New Year’s Day marked the end of a 33-year era with the shuttering of the Lido Complex, long regarded as one of Bermuda’s most iconic hospitality centres, one that survived devastating hurricanes and cultural and economic headwinds.

Since its opening in 1992, the seaside cluster of Café Lido, Mickey’s on the Beach, Sea Breeze and The Deep helped define dining and nightlife on Elbow Beach under the steady leadership of restaurateur Jacky Di Meglio of MEF Group.

For decades, Café Lido anchored the beachfront with its Mediterranean-leaning menu and panoramic ocean views. When the complex fully reopened last April with refreshed outdoor dining areas, it reaffirmed the pull it had always had on locals and visitors.

When Café Lido began in 1992, it introduced what was then a novel concept in Bermuda: an independently-operated, Mediterranean-style restaurant situated on a major hotel property.

Run separately from Elbow Beach Hotel, the venue was designed to create its own identity, offering seafood-driven menus, late-night service and even curated picnic baskets for couples on the sand.

By the mid-1990s, the complex expanded its footprint with the redevelopment of The Club — a sophisticated, multifunctional lounge blending Bermuda colours, European style and a cosmopolitan wine programme.

After Hurricane Fabian devastated Lido Restaurant, Sea Breeze and Mickey’s in 2003, MEF rebuilt and reimagined The Deep nightclub, transforming it into a hybrid lounge-nightclub space with modern sound, lighting and flexible uses, cementing the Lido Complex as an oceanfront “oasis outside the city”, as Mr Di Meglio put it.

“We are deeply grateful to the many guests who returned year after year,” Mr Di Meglio said in a press statement yesterday. “And to the staff whose dedication created the atmosphere that made Lido such a special place.”

The Lido Complex operated independently from the century-old Elbow Beach Hotel, which closed in early 2020 and went into liquidation in October 2023.

The Loren Group, which previously redeveloped the Pink Beach hotel property, bought the hotel and said that it intended to run both properties as a single hotel in two locations.

It was subsequently announced that the main Elbow Beach Hotel building would be demolished as part of the project, with a 75-key building to be built on an area occupied by tennis courts, with a projected 2029 opening.

The Royal Gazette contacted The Loren Group for comment, with no reply as of press time.

In 2007, Mr Di Meglio told the Gazette that over the years, the complex has seen many different owners of the Elbow Beach Hotel.

“We have had a fantastic relationship with all the people who have been managing the affair from the Wyndham Group, the Raphael Group and now the Mandarin Oriental,” he said.

The Mandarin Oriental’s management ended in 2014, when the hotel was taken over by veteran hotelier Edmund Burns.

“The place was destroyed during Hurricane Fabian and for us it has been an uphill battle to make it as successful as it used to be,” Mr Di Meglio said. “The investments have been around $5 million between the companies.”

As the Paget chapter closes, the Di Meglios’ plans shifts eastward. In 2024, Stefania Di Meglio, Mr Di Meglio’s daughter; and Guido Brambilla, food-and-beverage director, launched Achilles, opposite Fort St Catherine.

The restaurant quickly gained a following for its creative Mediterranean-Asian approach. At the time, the Gazette described it as “a compelling new reason to venture north”.

The family’s next frontier — the historic Carriage House — carries its own layered story. A 2024 planning application outlined major refurbishment plans for the former Tempest Bistro site, including converting the Water Street frontage, once home to the Vera P Card jewellery store and the old Carriage House Museum, into a café and deli with outdoor seating.

The Grade 2-listed warehouse, which lost its museum to Fabian in 2003 and saw the original Carriage House Restaurant close in 2009, is also slated for the Carriage House Suites, three new tourism apartments above the restaurant space.

In 2021, MEF Group, founded in 1953 as Little Venice on Bermudiana Road, celebrated half a century in business. Emilio Barbieri, who first arrived in Bermuda from Italy in 1960, took over the restaurant in 1971 with his business partner, Franco Bortoli, and began expanding it from a modest trattoria into what became the Little Venice Group, spanning more than a dozen restaurants, a wine bar and a catering arm.

After Mr Bortoli’s departure in 1976, Mr Barbieri partnered with Mr Di Meglio, culminating in the opening of the Lido and in acquisitions like the Somers Wharf waterfront complex in St George’s.

The transition comes amid growing Government interest in hospitality revitalisation.

Jason Hayward, the Minister of Economy and Labour, said in a LinkedIn post last week that he was encouraged by MEF’s plans for economic expansion and its “ongoing commitment to Bermuda’s hospitality ecosystem, creating meaningful jobs and [a] first-class experience”.

Now, the Di Meglios aim to bring that revitalisation to life. They said the Somers Wharf redevelopment will introduce Riva, a signature Italian restaurant; Water Street Café, a new social hub; and the Carriage House Suites.

“We believe firmly in the future of St George’s,” Ms Di Meglio said. “Restoring the Carriage House allows us to honour its history while creating a vibrant destination for the next generation.”