A NEW ‘vegan-friendly’ restaurant is set to open in York city centre this weekend.

Grön cafe and bar is set to open in the old Filmore & Union building in Low Petergate on Sunday (February 9).

Headed up by Horsforth-born Matt Healy, who was runner-up in Masterchef: The Professionals in 2016, Grön means ‘green’ in Swedish and the eatery will be offering a menu of vegetarian and vegan-friendly dishes created by Matt.

Executive chef, Nat Firth, said: “Our menu is geared towards all-day brunch with some of our own specialities. We have a menu that is 30-40 per cent vegan - we serve some fish, but no meat at all. We are trying to make it more accessible for vegans in York so it’s not just a case of avocado on toast - everything we try and do is making it more interesting and tasty.”

Matt already runs The Foundry at Saw Mill Yard in Leeds and has a Grön at 454, Roundhay Road in Oakwood, Leeds and on their website, Matt says: “People are actively cutting down on their meat consumption and veganism is definitely proving to be a big movement that is going mainstream.”

Inside the venue features a moss wall and their mantra “Keep it Clean” in neon lights with space for ten covers down and 30 covers upstairs.

Grön has put in a licensing application to City of York Council to be able to supply alcohol from Monday to Sunday from 11am - 10.40pm and will initially open from 9am-5pm Monday-Saturday and 10am-5pm on Sundays.

In addition they want to be able to have live music on Saturdays and Sundays from 8pm-11pm as well as show films from 8am-11pm Monday to Sunday.

The building is next to the La Vecchia Scuola Italian restaurant and was formerly home to Filmore & Union which specialised in health-inspired neighbourhood catering.

They first opened their doors in 62A Petergate in 2012 and closed suddenly in May last year.

It still has outlets at York station and John Lewis at Vangarde in the city.