Boxpark
Leon has announced that it will open its first location in Scotland—in Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries in July. It will also be Leon’s first high street location outside of London, and its most northerly site to date. Co-founder and chief executive John Vincent said: “I have happy memories of Glasgow. It is a city with style, spirit and energy. Now I have an excuse to come more often.” Leon is meanwhile set to open at more big railway stations, including Liverpool Street and Paddington in London, under a new partnership with SSP.
Boxpark has confirmed the list of tenants for its Croydon venture, due to launch in September. They include Meatliquor, Craft Beer Co, The Breakfast Club, Chilango, alongside some local independents and street food operators.
Casual steakhouse group CAU is to open in Harrogate on 30 May as it continues a rapid expansion around the country. It will be a 100-cover restaurant with space for 30 more people outside. It will open from 10am in the week and 9am at weekends.
Vietnamese brand Pho has just opened on Clare Street in Bristol. It has taken a 70-cover unit there as it continues to push outside of London.
Patty & Bun will open a fifth site in June—on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch.
Brazilian rodizio restaurant Viva Brazil will open on Bennetts Hill in Birmingham tomorrow (20 May). It is the fifth restaurant for Viva Brazil, which already operates in Liverpool, Glasgow, Cardiff and Newcastle.
San Carlo is to open a fourth branch of its Cicchetti small plates brand, the Manchester Evening News reports. The location hasn’t yet been confirmed, but it would join London restaurants in Covent Garden and Piccadilly plus another in Manchester.
Casual Dining Group is to open a branch of its Oriel brasserie concept in Chislehurst. It will take over from a Café Rouge branch, which closed a couple of weeks ago. Oriel is expected to open towards the end of June. Casual Dining Group launched the concept at Heathrow’s Terminal 3, so this is a first move onto the high street.
Chef Adam Handling will open a restaurant and bar called The Frog on Ely’s Yard in Spitalfields on 8 June. It is the first in a planned series of openings for the brand over the next few years. The Frog will be a more casual take on his upmarket restaurants. It will be a 60-cover restaurant and an organic bar with an own-brand gin from Portobello Gin and beers from BrewDog. Adam Handling’s restaurant group is being backed by Toucan Ventures.
Meatball street food truck Belpassi Bros is to open a permanent bricks and mortar restaurant and bar in Tooting in June. It will be a small 40-cover unit, situated on Tooting’s High Street.
Be At One has become the latest London-based operator to launch in Birmingham. It has taken on a 4,000 square feet site on Stephenson Street.
Pizza Express has opened at the Baxter Gate development in Peterborough. Nando’s is due to open there soon too.
Cote will open on Church Street in Peterborough on Monday (23 May).
Bernardi’s restaurant on Seymour Street in Marylebone will open a new basement cocktail bar called The Dog House on 10 June. It will have its own entrance and will sell classic and modern Italian cocktails.
Queen’s Park-based Italian restaurant Ostuni is to launch a second site on Hampstead Lane in Highgate. The original restaurant was launched in 2013 by the Masseria group and is dedicated to the Puglia region of London. The 90-cover Highgate site will open in mid-June.
Jack’s Kitchen, a new all-day restaurant with a specialism in whiskys, has opened on Portsmouth Road in Surbiton.
A new all-day casual Hawaiian concept called Ahi Poké is to open on Percy Street in Fitzrovia, on the corner of Charlotte Street and Rathbone Place, in mid-June. It will serve poké, a Hawaiian raw fish dish. It is a 25-cover unit inspired by Hawaiian beach shacks, and will offer takeaway and delivery as well as eating in. The concept has been developed by the team behind Mayfair’s NAC and Chez Chow.
Japanese tapas concept Nozomi has opened on Fleet Street in Birmingham.
The Restaurant Group plans to open a branch of its Joe’s Kitchen all-day format on Coney Street in York, in a unit previously occupied by Café Rouge, the York Press reports. Its application suggests it wants to open from 8am to 12.30am there.
Carluccio’s has also submitted plans to open in York, on St Helen’s Square. It would be a second site in the city for the brand.
Zizzi has just opened in Cardiff—its third restaurant in the city. The new one is in St David’s shopping centre.
Dirty Burger has just opened on Coldharbour Lane in Brixton. It is its eighth site and biggest yet.
The Intertain group has acquired the Establishment Bar and Grill in Coventry, in a deal brokered by Christie & Co. Intertain plans to continue running the site in its current format.
The Restaurant Group’s Frankie & Benny’s brand plans to open in Dundee in the autumn. It has applied to take over an old retail unit in the Overgate centre in the town.
The Original Bowling Company has reopened its Birmingham venue after a £350,000 refurb.
