At Barnacle, we have always built everything around people. The story, the food, the drinks, and the atmosphere – all of it depends on a team that takes genuine pride in the little details, and that understands what it means to make a guest feel truly looked after.
Since opening our permanent home in the former Royal School for the Blind on Hardman Street last autumn, the response from Liverpool and beyond has been remarkable. The dining room is bustling, the bar is growing, and the kitchen is producing some of the most exciting food we have ever put out. As we settle into this next chapter – inside one of Liverpool’s most extraordinary Grade II listed buildings, in the heart of the Georgian Quarter – we are looking to grow the team with experienced professionals who share our standards and want to be part of something worth working for.
We are currently recruiting across both our Front of House and Kitchen teams.
We are looking for experienced hospitality professionals who understand the difference between service and genuine hosting. People who can read a room, hold a conversation, and make a guest feel welcome the moment they walk through the door. Whether your background is in fine dining, brasserie-style service, bar or floor – what matters most to us is warmth, confidence, and a quiet attention to detail that a guest might not notice in the moment, but will always feel.
Barnacle is approachable and relaxed in format, but held to a high standard in everything. We do not do ceremony for the sake of it, but we do care – about the quality of what is on the plate, what is in the glass, and how every person in the room is made to feel.
We are looking for experienced chefs who bring proven technique and genuine passion for their craft. Barnacle’s food is fresh oriented and rooted in provenance & seasonality – built around the best of what Merseyside and its surrounding region produces, working with independent suppliers who share our values. Overseen by Chef Patron Paul Askew and Head Chef David Alonso, and this is an opportunity to work within a team where standards are high and the work rewards those who care about it.
If you are driven by craft, curious about ingredients, and want to work in a kitchen that takes both its food and its people seriously, we would love to hear from you.
Barnacle is part of a small family group that also includes The Art School Restaurant – Michelin recommended since its opening in 2014, twice included in Hardens UK Top 50 and Sunday Times Top 100 – and for those with ambition, there is real opportunity to develop your career within a group that values long-term relationships and invests seriously in training and development. Skills can be taught, refined and built upon over time. Work ethic cannot. What we are really looking for – in every role, at every level – is people who show up fully, take pride in what they do, and care about the effect they have on those around them.
Few hospitality venues in Liverpool carry the weight of history that Barnacle does, especially now homed in The School For The Blind building of 1851. Sitting between the Philharmonic Hall and the Bombed Out Church, surrounded by the Georgian architecture of Hope Street, it is a place with genuine character – somewhere that makes the work feel a little different from the moment you arrive for a shift.
The word restaurant comes from the French restaurer – to restore. The first establishments to carry the name, in eighteenth-century Paris, served restorative broths to weary travellers: simple, nourishing, and offered with care. The concept has changed almost beyond recognition since then, but the word has stayed. And if you think about what great hospitality actually does – how a good meal with good service can genuinely shift how a person feels – perhaps it has not changed quite as much as it seems.
If you are experienced, committed, and ready to join a team that takes that idea seriously – in how it cooks, how it serves, and how it treats its own people – we would love to hear from you.
Submit your CV and a short note about your experience using the link below. A member of our team will be in touch.
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