Stephanie and Gabriel Pacheco open the Cells

These might not be the first accompaniments to a meal out that might spring to mind but diners in Colchester are positively lapping up the slightly ghoulish atmosphere at Stephanie and Gabriel Pacheco’s newly opened themed restaurant.

The couple successfully launched their fine dining restaurant Memoirs, cocktail lounge and coffee bar in the upstairs rooms of the former courthouse in Colchester’s West Stockwell Street two years ago.

But the next part of their grand scheme to transform the Grade I Listed building into a destination eaterie has involved refurbishing the holding cells into six themed rooms, each seating between eight and 18 people.

And they are already booked up a month in advance, with the end of October understandably proving particular popular.

Stephanie says a lot of thought went into the theme for each of rooms in the restaurant, appropriately called the Cells, and explains the mould and the cobwebs are all fake.

She explains: “They were holding cells, so no-one actually slept in them.

“Although there were six original cells, one of those was on the other side, near to the kitchen so we actually created a sixth one near to the original five from an office that was there.

“We had always planned to do this but it was a case of getting Memoirs established and making money first in order to fund it.”

The response to the Cells has been overwhelmingly positive, she says.

“It has really taken off, maybe because it is so crazily unique.”

Diners are greeted by waiting staff dressed in orange boiler suits and the general manager is kitted out like a prison warden.

The food, with prison themed names, and cocktails are presented on trays via a trolley.

“We really wanted to commit to the theme but also offer something within the menu that is not being offered anywhere else in town.

“So we have got fish and chips, Hunter’s chicken, ribs and homemade pies but also a full vegan and gluten free menu.

“It is difficult to offer something like this in Memoirs because everything is cooked with butter and it is hard in fine dining, but it has worked really well in the Cells and nowhere else in Colchester seems to be offering it.

“Or if they do it is not such a big choice,” Stephanie adds.

There is a Medieval Cell, Graffiti Cell, the Haunted Cell, Mortuary Cell, Victorian Cell and finally, the Padded Cell.

With the help of generous amounts of writing material, youngsters, and grown-ups if they wish, are encouraged to leave their mark on the walls of the Graffiti Cell while the Haunted Cell is literally just that.

Stephanie explains: “It is haunted by a little girl from the Town Hall. Apparently a lot of the court staff would not go down there on their own but it is one of the most popular ones with customers.

“It is already booked up for Halloween night.”

And the same can be said for the Mortuary room, splattered with fake blood and one for people who like a lot of gore, she adds.

But there is a broad range of customers opting to dine in its surroundings.

“Yesterday we had two older people and their daughter, who was probably about 25 or 30 just come in off the street and they had the choice of all six rooms because it was early in the evening and they chose to sit in there, out of all six of them. A lot of people have also chosen the padded cell.

We have had a lot of hen nights in there.

“It is a bold idea but we were faced with the choice of doing every cell the same or choosing different themes and people seem to really like the different rooms.

“There are chains on the wall of the Medieval Room and they will wrap them around themselves and take photos.

“We have a selfie board that people can take photos with and it looks like they have been arrested, in all of the cells.

“It is not tacky, but it is light-hearted. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and the only complaints we have been having have been from people not being to book quickly enough,” adds Anna, 25.

While she looks after design, the back of the house and human resources, Gabriel, 28, deals with the order of service and the dayto- day running of all aspects of the business, upstairs and downstairs.