QUIETLY and without any fuss, one of Sheffield’s most famous restaurants and function venues closed its doors just before Christmas – for the second time.
The Omega decided not to renew its lease at Abbeydale Sports Club after five years
Now bosses Jamie Christian and Steve Roebuck, who carried on the tradition and name of the original Omega at Psalter Lane, run by David and Pauline Baldwin, are on the hunt for new premises.
“It just wasn’t working out for us so we need to find somewhere more suitable,” said Jamie, who is front of house and operations manager with Steve heading up the kitchen.
There were, inevitably, tensions between the egg, chips and a beer demands of a sports club and a business geared to fine dining, salmon and strawberry evenings and other social functions.
They are taking their time. “January is a tough time for restaurants,” added Jamie,. The pair have already looked at several sites and while not in a rush hope to reopen around March.
Baldwin’s Omega closed after 37 years in 2018, during which it was the city’s premier function venue. The site is now a housing estate.
Steve, who had worked for David Baldwin for 30 years and Jamie for 25, wanted to retain the ethos of the business they had known for most of their working lives and opened at Abbeydale the following year.
Baldwin’s has been a unique Sheffield institution, its menu featuring classical French and thoroughly British dishes such as a Yorkshire Pudding and gravy starter, roast beef or liver and onions across fixed price and a la carte menus, together with crowd pleasing events such as Caribbean or salmon and strawberry evenings and private functions.
It looks like 2024 will be a challenging time for the hospitality industry “but people will still want to go out,” Jamie said.
And he added: “Fingers crossed!”
Another helping from Martin Dawes 
So sorry to learn you have left. To visit your restaurant is a dining experience – open up again asap. See you then! x
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