US restaurant brand Chick-fil-A opened its first UK restaurant at the Oracle centre in Reading on Thursday (10 October). Chick-fil-A is the third largest chain in the US, with well over 2,000 sites, and has previously set out ambitions to move into the UK and Europe, running pop-ups to test the market.
Tapas Revolution opens its latest new restaurant on Monday (14 October)—at Westfield Stratford. It has a cava bar and ‘press for cava’ buttons, and is the eighth site for Tapas Revolution, after Bath, Bluewater, Birmingham, Newcastle, Sheffield, Westfield Shepherd’s Bush and Windsor.
Fried chicken concept Chick ‘n’ Sours is opening a new 50-cover restaurant on Artillery Passage in London’s Spitalfields in early November. It will be a fourth location for the brand, after openings in Haggerston, Islington and Seven Dials.
Fast-growing Thai brand Giggling Squid opens on Satchwell Court in Leamington Spa on Monday (14 October). The 100-cover restaurant is Giggling Squid’s 33rd site in the UK.
The Made of Dough pizza group are opening a new Roman-style pizzeria on Brick Lane in London called Roma in early November. All pizzas will sell for £5. Made of Dough runs a pizzeria in Peckham, and also has kiosks in Fulham Market Halls and Swingers West End.
Coco di Mama has reached the milestone of 25 sites in London, with an opening on Ropemaker Place in Islington. It is a conversion of a Pod site, following a deal for the chain’s units by Coco di Mama’s parent Azzurri Group earlier this year.
Shake Shack has started recruiting for the opening of its 11th UK restaurant, at the Brent Cross shopping centre in north London. It has eight sites in London—in Covent Garden, Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square, Westfield Stratford, Victoria Nova, Canary Wharf, Mansion House and Soho—and two outside, in Cardiff and Lakeside.
The Ivy Collection has taken on the former Jamie’s Italian restaurant in London’s Victoria. It will launch a major 300-cover operation called The Ivy Victoria there before the end of the year.
Brasserie group Cote is planning to open in Henley in Oxfordshire and Solihull in the West Midlands. It has applied for permission to convert two retail units in Henley and a former bank building in Solihull, local media report.
Rosa’s Thai Café has set 3 November for the opening of its latest new restaurant on Northcote Road in Clapham. It brings Rosa’s total number of restaurants to 18.
Loungers has opened a new branch of its Cosy Club bar and restaurant brand at the Festival Place development in Basingstoke. It is a 5,300 square feet operation.
The Adventure Bar Group has just opened a new concept bar called The Lost Alhambra on Leicester Square. Co-founder Tom Kidd said: “Each of our bars is different—we work hard to ensure that wherever possible we build a concept based on local history, and the site at Leicester Square is a great example of where we have been able to do this.” The deal for the site was brokered by Shelley Sandzer.
The Boxpark group has secured approval to open a restaurant and bar called Beachbox on the seafront in Shoreham. It is being adapted from an old toilet block, and will have outdoor seating, roof terrace and community space as well as a split-level café-restaurant. Boxpark runs restaurant and bar collectives at Wembley, Croydon and Shoreditch in London.
Pieminster has received permission to open by the station in Exeter. It currently has 14 sites across the UK.
Glasgow’s Korean restaurant Bibimbap will open a second site soon, on Patrick Cross in the city’s west end. The 40-cover restaurant joins the original on West Nile Street in Glasgow.
A new contemporary Sri Lankan restaurant called Paradise will open on Rupert Street in Soho in the winter. Its menu will include modernised street food and small plates, plus Sri Lankan twists on classic cocktails.
