US diner giant Denny’s opened its first UK location over Christmas. The 200-cover restaurant at Parc Tawe in Swansea is being operated under franchise by the Magic Brands Group, and more UK locations are planned in the next few years after a funding deal was secured with HSBC. The Swansea menu has some British dishes in addition to Denny’s US offer. The restaurant marked its opening with a meal for homeless people on Christmas Day.
Italian food hall concept Eataly intends to open a major 40,000 square feet site in the Broadgate development near Liverpool Street in the City later this year, the Evening Standard reports. It will follow Eataly’s successful model of restaurants, shops and cafes under one roof.
Midlands-based Thai restaurant and bar concept Sabai Sabai has opened its fourth restaurant—in a former bank building on Waterloo Street in central Birmingham. Sabai Sabai launched in Moseley 14 years ago, with restaurants in Harborne and Stratford-upon-Avon following.
The Ivy opened before Christmas on St Helen’s Square in York as it continues a roll-out of spin-off brasserie and grill brands. The company has also applied to open at the Hayes in Cardiff, according to local media.
Burger brand Byron and Thai operator Giggling Squid will both be opening at the Sawclose casino development in Bath. Giggling Squid will open first, in the next couple of weeks.
Franco Manca has submitted plans for a proposed opening on Market Hill in Cambridge, according to local reports.
The Soho House Group will reopen Soho restaurant Kettner’s as a restaurant, bar and guesthouse on Monday (8 January). The new-look venue, which has 33 rooms and a French-style champagne bar, will be called Kettner’s Townhouse.
Mitchells & Butlers is reopening its Harvester restaurant at Branston near Burton-upon-Trent as a Miller & Carter steakhouse. It will launch in the spring.
Music bar concept The Piano Works has opened a second site called Studio 88 on Whitcomb Street by Leicester Square. It features live singers and bands playing requests, with food including Californian-style bamboo cones. The original Piano Works launched in 2015 in Farringdon.
Jamaican casual dining concept Rudie’s officially launches its second site at Boxpark Shoreditch on 15 January. The soft launch is next week. The new site has an on the go offer as well as sit-in space. The original Rudie’s opened in Dalston in 2015.
Restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab is to open a new southern US-style concept called Atticus in the Angel building in Islington. It will be an all-day operation with southern classics like shrimp and grits, catfish and gumbo. The restaurant is named after Atticus Finch from Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Reports suggest Wahhab intends to roll out the brand if it proves successful.
A new Breton-style creperie called L’Ami Malo opens in Spitalfields, close to Liverpool Street, on 31 January. The 1,140 square feet unit will also have a ‘Le Moulin’ bar.
The European Granier Bakery and Café concept has opened at Central Square in Stratford—its sixth franchised site in London after Bayswater, Kingston-upon-Thames, Notting Hill, Putney and Woolwich.
Thai street food operator Zaap is opening a fourth restaurant in Leicester, according to the Leicester Mercury. The concept already has sites in Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham.
Loungers has secured a site at the Green Lanes centre in Barnstaple in Devon, according to reports. It should open in the spring.
