New Italian restaurant coming to heritage church building at Cronulla

The business has been bought by Matteo Margiotta and his wife Nerina, who grew up in Sutherland Shire.

The couple have operated the very successful Pino's Vino & Cucina at Alexandria for nearly eight years.

The Methodist church in Surf Road, opposite the Cronulla School of Arts, was erected about 1908 and was converted into a council library in the 1970's, before becoming The Old Library Restaurant in 2011 and 1908 Cronulla in 2015.

1908 Cronulla will close after Mother's Day, but will host a cocktail garden party in collaboration with DNA Distillery on May 10 at 7pm to celebrate the good times and thank patrons for their support.

The venue will then undergo a major refit before reopening as an Italian restaurant, focusing on "fresh, local quality ingredients in a setting that provides a nice, breezy feel with the aid of natural timber, stone, terracotta and olive trees".

Capacity will remain at 190 for stand-up functions, and 140 for sit-down.

The name will be the same as the Alexandria restaurant, with an extra two words - Pino's Vino & Cucina Al Mare (at the sea).

Mr Margiotta said the new restaurant would be another stage in fulfilling his "Australian dream".

"I came to Australia from Italy 14 years ago with just a backpack and a determination to work hard," he said.

"We named the Alexandria restaurant after my father Pino, and because it resembled the house where I grew up in Rome. The Cronulla restaurant will be my beach house honouring one of my favourite coastal places Puglia."

Mr Margiotta said when his wife fell pregnant during the pandemic, the couple decided to move to Cronulla to be closer to her family.

"We love the sense of community, being close to the ocean and especially close to my in- laws," he said.

"After Covid, we thought, 'We should do something here, and then I found this place was for sale."

"I loved the old church the first time I walked in and feel very excited about what we are going to do with it."