News that the charity had taken over the building came in March, a few months after the pub chain left the premises in September last year.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n ![]()
The party in full flow (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Lawson told The Argus she loves Brighton and has spent a great deal of time in the city over the years.\n<\/p>\n
\n This was in part because her grandmother lived in Rottingdean “a hundred years ago”, she quipped.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said she was impressed by the team\u2019s work transforming the site so quickly.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI think it\u2019s absolutely extraordinary and I can\u2019t quite believe it could have been done so quickly because they started in September,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re doing a bathroom at home, if you started in September, you wouldn\u2019t be done by now.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe atmosphere is both cosy but has a certain elegance. I know they\u2019re going for a bit of a 1930s feel. It looks rather beautiful.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I love a booth; the booths are good because it can become a meeting place.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWith a venture like this it\u2019s fantastic and a mission of enrichment for the young people with learning difficulties, but it does also enrich the community.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThis is true for all successful restaurants; you need to be a place where visitors come but also a place where locals return to \u2013 it has that kind of feel to me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Nigella Lawson (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n In a speech given to a room packed with people, she said she was \u201cthrilled\u201d to be a patron and praised Rosa as an \u201cincredible powerhouse\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said: \u201cShe realised something needed to get done and no one else was going to do it, so she was bloody well going to do it.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n She finished her speech with a toast to the pub, saying: \u201cTo the North Star, may it shine brightly as a pub as it is tonight, and may those who train here shine brightly too.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Ms Lawson was joined by Marisa Abela, who grew up in Brighton and recently got married in the city.\n<\/p>\n
\n She came into the contact with the charity through her \u201cbest friend\u201d who is Rosa\u2019s niece and introduced her to Domenica.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cDomenica and I hit it off and we became friends,\u201d she told The Argus.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe speak a lot over text and I love her. When Rosa asked me if it was something I would be interested in, it was an immediate yes.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI come to Brighton a lot and I\u2019m very passionate about the community here and passionate about the fact I was privileged to have an upbringing in an open, accepting, generous and loving place – and it made me understand immediately why all of the ventures Team Domenica do work so well in Brighton.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe thing about pubs, the reason why they\u2019re such a pillar of British communities is because they are a place for people to meet and be social and have fun.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cOf course, cafes are like that too, but they\u2019re slightly more of a quiet space whereas there is something so lively about a pub.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cEvery time I\u2019m with Domenica specifically, I\u2019m bowled over by her vibrancy and vitality. A pub is the perfect place to personify that.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She added that the people who work with the charity “deserve purpose like we all do and they\u2019re more than capable”.\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Marisa Abela (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n In a speech, Ms Abela said her first job, at 18, had been at a pub \u201cround the corner from here\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhat it did for me was give me a sense of purpose, a sense of responsibility \u2013 I need to get up in the morning \u2013 and it embedded me in the foundations of my community,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to bring a lot of joy to Brighton, and I know Brighton is the perfect place to open the North Star with open arms.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen I first met Rosa, I was inspired by her ability to uplift and champion a cause so close to her heart.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWhen I met Dominica I was even more inspired by [her].\n<\/p>\n
\n “You are kind and thoughtful and intelligent and wonderful \u2013 and naughty. I would be in this pub every single day if I knew I would be here with you.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cBrighton is all the richer for this pub and I\u2019m all the richer for having you as a friend.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n ![]()
Baroness Rosa Monckton in front of The North Star (Image: The Argus)\n<\/p>\n
\n Attendees at the event also heard from two graduates of Team Domenica\u2019s training programme.\n<\/p>\n
\n Ollie, who works at a hotel, said the training had given him confidence and that he had made friends through the programme.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m really proud to have a job where I get paid. I\u2019m saving my money because I\u2019d like to go on holiday with my friends,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m a little jealous of the candidates who will train in such a beautiful pub.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Ronnie, who works behind the bar at Bill\u2019s, said the training programme \u201cgave me the chance to try lots of new things and work out what I\u2019m good at and what I enjoy doing.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe great thing is earning my own money and being independent,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n To find out more about the charity’s work, visit teamdomenica.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the opening party at The North Star in Brighton last night (December 4), Nigella Lawson and Industry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[6491,96,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-301844","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301844\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}