Restauranteur Pier Luigi Zanatta has sadly died aged 72, his son has said.
Pier will forever be fondly remembered in Hull for his kindness and generosity as well as for the famous Princes Avenue restaurant that bore his name. Originally from Venice in Italy, Pier travelled around the world after doing his National Service and came to London before opening a restaurant in Hull.
"As a child, for years I never understood why he left Venice for Hull," said his son, JP Zanatta. "He was approached by the Cerutti family and they had the George and Dragon in Aldbrough.
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"They showed him a postcard apparently of the area around Yorkshire and he thought, 'That looks nice I'll go there.'" Pier achieved his dream of opening Pier Luigi's in Hull in 1982.
JP, from Burton Constable, added: "He opened the restaurant a year before I was born. I'm 39 now and families grew up in his restaurant which is probably one of the nicest things to look back on.
"People had Christenings and birthday parties and celebrated special occasions, they got engaged there. It was a bit of a hub for a lot of people.
"He wanted it to be accessible for everybody, people from The Avenues or council estates, through to business people. He wanted it to be the Italian traditional restaurant where there is something for everyone."
Pier Luigi was beautifully decorated in traditional Italian style and became one of Hull's best-loved restaurants over the next 20 years. JP said his father sold it in the mid-2000s after a health scare; it kept running until 2010 under new owners before closing.
JP, who worked at the restaurant himself from a young age, remembers it always had a lively atmosphere. He said: "It was an open kitchen when there weren't many at the time, so you'd look in and see the pizza ovens, the hobs, everything.
"There was a buzz about the place. The bar at the front of the restaurant was rammed - especially at the weekend - it was shoulder to shoulder."
Describing his dad as "very Italian", JP said he'd do "lots of talking with his hands" and was kind-hearted and helpful. "He was generous to a fault, he was a very kind person who'd give anybody anything if he thought it would help," said JP.
"He loved generosity with food, with drinks. He loved teaching people about wine, about food. He was a very kind and very caring man."
JP said his dad would drive all his staff home after the restaurant closed, making sure they got home safely. "So instead of going straight home to Hedon, he'd go up Cottingham Road, Beverley Road, round the houses dropping each and every person off and making sure they were home safe," he said. "He cared deeply about his staff - and his customers as well."
He added: "There's an overriding memory, it was his 50th birthday and he'd had a number of staff for years who had worked for him for a long time and everyone called him 'Pops'.
"Somebody bought him a bottle of whiskey with an inscription of 'Father to one, Pops to us all.' That sums him up."
