A CAF-BAR and restaurant, boasting the North's first pizza bar, opened at the weekend, creating 40 jobs for bar and restaurant staff.

Hide Cafe Bar and Grill, at Yarm, Teesside, takes its name both from its location, hidden away off the High Street, and the fact the site was once a 19th Century tannery.

Throughout the day, it aims to provide a relaxing, continental cafe-style escape from the hubbub of Yarm's busy main street.

Come evening, it transforms into a contemporary bar and restaurant, which, says manager Jonathan Hall, offers a "laid back ambience".

Mr Hall, 30, said: "We are trying to create a mood and an experience throughout Hide Cafe Bar and Grill that is like nothing else people have encountered before - a fusion of the best features we have come across during our travels round the world."

The pizza bar, where customers can watch their lunch being made on a wood-burning oven, is the only one of its kind outside of London.