Durham restaurant Zizzi damaged

The transformation of a boarded up eyesore building in Saddler Street, in Durham city centre, into the Zizzi restaurant last summer won praise from residents and visitors alike, jointly winning the City of Durham Trust conservation group’s annual architectural prize.

The trust said the restoration, by Stiff Trevelyan Architects, of London, had shown exemplary respect for its context and the Ask Restaurants-owned bistro has quickly become a fixture on Durham’s gastronomic map, offering views over the River Wear.

But shortly after 7pm, on Sunday, all eyes were on the front entrance – in medieval Saddler Street.

The driver of a white Audi A5 parked the car in a loading bay further up the street and went into another premises to make a delivery.

But apparently the handbrake had been left off, or had failed, so the car rolled down the steep slope without its driver. The Audi missed Zizzi’s door, but destroyed a menu board and hit the door frame, causing some damage to the building.

No one was hurt and there was no one nearby inside the premises because the dining area is at the rear of the building.

However, the restaurant was closed at about 8pm while urgent repairs were made and a structural engineer will now assess the damage.

The police were called and Saddler Street was closed for a short period.

One witness said: “Fortunately, no one was hurt. The driver, who was attending to business further up the hill, was visibly shocked.”

Zizzi general manager Mark Shields said: “We’ve contacted a surveyor and we’re looking at how it will be repaired. It’s cosmetic damage at the minute. The door frame’s been pushed into the building.

It ended up about six inches from our front door. We closed the restaurant, mainly because there was a lot of banging going on.”

Zizzi reopened at noon yesterday.

• Were you in the restaurant when the accident happened? Call us on 01325-505065 and tell us your story