The Alchemist will open a bar and restaurant in Embassy Gardens in the Nine Elms development in September. The 5,200 square feet site will have 105 covers inside, and another 78 outside. It is a fourth location for The Alchemist: the first two are in Bevis Marks and St Martin’s Lane, and a third is due to open in Old Street in April. More London openings are expected to be announced. Managing director Simon Potts said: “We are fully committed to ongoing investment in the capital… we have a talented operations team based in the city and very much see opportunity to continue the brand evolution in London.
Steak concept Flat Iron has launched its seventh site on Tooley Street near London Bridge. The brand’s first six sites are in Covent Garden, King’s Cross, Portobello and Shoreditch, and on Beak Street and Denmark Street in Soho.
Indian street food operator Mowgli opens its second Manchester restaurant on Monday (21 January)—at the University Green development. It is a seventh site in all for Mowgli, which also has a restaurant at the Corn Exchange in Manchester, as well as two in Liverpool and one in Birmingham, Nottingham and Oxford.
Pizza brand Homeslice has just opened its sixth location on James Street in Marylebone. The five other Homeslices are at Covent Garden, Fitzrovia, Shoreditch and White City.
BrewDog makes its first new opening of 2019 next Friday (25 January), in Carlisle.
Craft Beer Co has acquired a site by Hammersmith station. It will reopen in March after refurbishment, becoming Craft Beer Co’s eighth location.
Hollywood Bowl is to open a bowling centre and mini golf complex with restaurant and bar at the York Stadium leisure development. It has signed up for a 46,000 square feet space there.
The team behind the Ladies and Gentlemen bar in Kentish Town this week soft launched a second cocktail bar by Camden Road station. As with the first site, it is a conversion of an old public toilet building. It has about 45 covers.
Crosstown Doughnuts has opened a first branch in west London, at the Broadway shopping centre in Hammersmith. It marked the launch with doughnut giveaways over the first few days. The brand also operates in Fitzrovia, Greenwich, Marylebone, Piccadilly, Shoreditch, Soho and Victoria, as well as at various London markets and through other retailers including Selfridges and Whole Foods.
Farmer J will open its third restaurant on Canada Place in London in the next few weeks. It will be an all-day operation, joining branches of Famer J on Leadenhall Street and King William Street.
Adventure Leisure has submitted plans to open a branch of its Mr Mulligan’s crazy golf brand at the Festival Leisure Park in Basildon, according to local media. It would have a bar and restaurant as well as two golf courses. The plans are for a site operated by Deltic Group.
Soho bakery Cutter & Squidge is opening a second site at the Royal Exchange on Threadneedle Street in mid-February. The original Cutter & Squidge is on Brewer Street, and also offers online cake sales, deliveries, hampers and wedding cakes.
Edinburgh-based Scandinavian-style bakery and café brand Söderberg will shortly open a first London site on Berwick Street in Soho. It already has three cafes and three bakery stores and a bakery facility in Edinburgh. The London site will be open from breakfast until evenings, with a Scandi-style lounge and takeout.
London’s AOK Bakery is opening a healthy eating restaurant and bakery on Dorset Street in Marylebone called AOK Kitchen in the next few weeks. It will have a gluten-free and dairy-free menu across a ground-floor bakery and upstairs restaurant.
Brazilian healthy eating bar Acai Berry has launched a third site, and its biggest to date, on King’s Road in Chelsea. It offers acai-based dishes and organic coffee. The brand already has sites on Argyll Street and Kingly Court.
