'There's a new city happening' - Hairy biker Si King speaks about the development of Sunderland and his new eatery 'Propa' - video Dailymotion

Sunderland Echo

Hairy biker and TV chef Si King speaking at the Sunderland Business Festival.

Transcript

00:00For too long, Sunderland has looked at Newcastle and gone,

00:05okay, and I just kept saying to everybody that I've had communication with,

00:10forget about Newcastle, Newcastle's going to do its own thing, whatever,

00:14Newcastle's going to be Newcastle, whatever. You have just as much heritage, you have just

00:18as much character, you have just as much personality, you have just as much craft,

00:22you have just as much heritage. Do that. Forget about your neighbour.

00:30And that's important, because I think it's very easy to get lost in kind of,

00:35you know, the character and personality of a city is its people. You can build what you like,

00:42but it's its people. And that's really important. And it's just great now that

00:48people that live in and around Sunderland, it's great, because I heard somebody the other day,

00:52so people, this is great, right? Okay then, Si, so why were you so keen to

00:57get involved in the business festival this year? Well, it was invitation. I was very cordially

01:03invited, which is always good, and if I'm opening a business here, it only seemed the right thing to

01:07do, really. So, and there's an energy to Sunderland that at the minute, that's remarkable, and why

01:14wouldn't you want to be involved in it? It's, yeah. And it's also nice, it's an opportunity

01:21to network and to actually talk to people, see what they're up to, what's happening,

01:27what directions they're going in, where they're going, all of that. So, and obviously, if I'm

01:32opening an eatery, all of those resources, I'm very keen on making sure that the money that I

01:40spend, where possible, is spent within Sunderland and within the North East. I mean, I grew up in

01:47Washington, and I think it's fair to say for, well, since I've been around that, it's always

01:53been seen as the sort of the correlation of Newcastle. There's a lot of development taking

01:57place here, so do you think the perception of people out of Sunderland, do you think it is

02:00changing? I think the perception of Sunderland, it absolutely is changing, absolutely. I mean,

02:06look, there's a new city happening over the water from Sheepfields, it's remarkable,

02:11and that's created, and I was always very keen from the very beginning, forget what Newcastle's

02:16to Newcastle, there's Newcastle that, it'll always be Newcastle. But Sunderland has got just

02:22as much heritage, just as much identity, just as much character, and just as much innovation,

02:29you know, concentrate on what you do, not what anybody else does. Can you tell me a bit about

02:35the eatery you're going to be opening here, and what it's called, and what sort of the idea is

02:38behind it? So, the eatery that I'm opening is called Proper, and it's literally, we're the

02:44custodians of comfort, so all of those nostalgic dishes that your mum and your grandma, and that

02:50is in your, that was within your family, and within the community, the culinary community of the

02:55North East, that's what we're going to produce it, that's what we're going to be producing,

03:00and lovely hot food in your hands, so that you can walk around Sheepfields, have a pint,

03:07it's going to be great. And you're planning on taking an active role in being here, and being

03:11a part of it? Yeah, absolutely, you can't do it any other way, you know, you've got to do it,

03:23if it's your gig, you've got to do it. I mean, obviously, the Hairy Bakers was such a big success,

03:28I mean, what do you think was the reason as to why it was so successful? You mentioned that

03:33you didn't really have a big, great plan behind it, so what do you think was the secret as to

03:37why it was so successful? Because there is no secret, it literally, we were just two lads doing

03:43what we love doing, and that's it really, and we didn't take ourselves too seriously, and never did,

03:52we were always enormously privileged to do what we did, and I think, and Dave and I were

04:00very close friends, we were family to one another, so that, it was just that, and a bit of a laugh as

04:06well, and I think that was the success of it, because people could relate to us, you know.

04:11More than sad, we wish you the best of luck with the TV thing that comes up, especially

04:16with the restaurant, and for everyone here, absolutely love to speak to you this morning,

04:21it's been a real pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, Si Keane!

'There's a new city happening' - Hairy biker Si King speaks about the development of Sunderland and his new eatery 'Propa'

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