THE number one ranked restaurant in St Helens according to TripAdvisor have taken to their social media to celebrate seven years since its launch.

Opened by Sutton High schoolfriends Chris Heyes, Anthony Georgiou, and Scott Anderson, Vigour began life as a Health Kitchen-come-Juice Bar on Bridge Street in 2017.

Shifting into a "casual dining" bar with an expanded menu and small plate focus, Vigour has become the number-one-rated restaurant in St Helens on Trip Advisor, with hundreds of customers leaving positive reviews.

Throughout a difficult few years with the pandemic and the changing face of the town centre, the firm has had some testing times but the trio are celebrating reaching seven years thanks to the support of the community.

Taking to social media, they said: “We opened up seven years ago with absolutely no idea what we was doing, we look back at our naivety and cringe, but we was just three local lads trying to make something of ourselves.

“Bank accounts emptied many times, relationships pushed to breaking point, gone through every worse case scenario you could possibly imagine and on multiple occasions (we’ve actually lost count), many would of thrown in the towel years ago and many have (not sure if this is a good/bad thing?), but here we are living to tell the tale for another year, a little battered and bruised nevertheless.

“Hospitality isn’t for the faint hearted, it’s not easy and it’s almost broke us a few times.

“Most of our favourite places have closed and more restaurants are closing weekly, but if it wasn’t for you guys supporting us daily we wouldn’t be here.

“So, thank you for making us the number 1 restaurant in St Helens and thank you to our team who have made us who we are today, they’re the real heroes… Having to put up with us.

“Keep supporting your local independents, we’re very fortunate to be surrounded by some great local businesses. Please keep using them!”