Fortitude Valley’s towering FV development has finally announced an anchor tenant for its upcoming food and beverage precinct. In June the 300-seat Foresters Restaurant and Bar will open on Brunswick Street, serving modern Australian dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The venue is a collaboration between FV’s developer Tim Gurner and Signature Hospitality Group, best known for its restaurant chains TGI Fridays and The Sporting Globe.

Foresters Restaurant and Bar taps into the area’s history, sitting behind a heritage-listed facade erected in 1889. The building was originally known as Foresters’ Hall (named after the Foresters Friendly Society, a mutual aid organisation) before becoming Cook’s Picture Palace (the Valley’s first movie theatre) in 1910. The Foresters fit-out is intended to nod towards this history with plenty of tiles, pressed-metal ceilings, brickwork, hardwood floors and exposed beams.

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Executive chef Peter Popow (formerly of X-Cargo) is creating a menu of produce-driven pub grub such as parmigianas, pizzas, burgers and steaks.

“A big part of the food experience will be working with local farmers and producers to create seriously good food that doesn’t take itself too seriously,” Popow said in a news release.

The restaurant will be accompanied by rooftop bar Altitude at Foresters, located on a 250-square-metre terrace on the sixth floor of FV’s third tower, which is nearing completion. Altitude will have extensive cocktail and drinks lists, a smaller food menu (ordered at the bar), views of the Valley and the city, and a retractable roof. It will also host DJs and live music.

Gurner and Signature CEO James Sinclair described the venue to the Courier Mail as “the Ivy of Brisbane”, referring to Merivale’s sprawling Sydney CBD dining, entertainment and retail precinct.

“The residents here are crying out for more [food and beverage] and for a nicer offering too, so I think we’ve got quite a captive market down this end of the Valley,” Sinclair told the Courier.

Foresters Restaurant and Bar and Altitude at Foresters are scheduled to open in mid-June.