Hawksmoor has just opened its latest new restaurant, in the old Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters on St Andrew Square in Edinburgh. The 170-cover restaurant joins a host of casual dining brands in the area including Dishoom, Gaucho and Vapiano.
The Chopstix Group is moving to expand its pan-Asian quick service restaurant concept Yangtze with an opening at the Bluewater shopping centre. Chopstix acquired the brand last year, and this is its first new opening, taking the total number of Yangtze restaurants to ten. Managing director Jon Lake said: “Bluewater provides the ideal platform from which to introduce Yangtze to a wider audience… we firmly believe there is potential for further growth.”
BrewDog has submitted plans to open a new bar in Peterhead, according to local media. It wants to refurbish an old bar unit that has been closed for the last five years.
Five Guys plans to launch another restaurant in Cambridge, according to Cambridge News. It already has a site in the city’s Leisure Park, but has not yet disclosed the location of the new restaurant.
The Restaurant Group has reopened its Coast to Coast bar and restaurant in Chester as Firejacks, its new US-style flame-grilled concept. It is a fourth location for Firejacks, which has already opened in Basildon, Stevenage and Northampton.
Charles Wells has acquired the Holly Bush pub in Witney and intends to reopen it as part of is ‘Pizza, Pots and Pints’ division of small food-led pubs. It has applied for planning permission for a revamp including extra floor space and an outside area. Charles Well recently picked up the Oxford Blue pub in Oxford, and wants to reach 25 sites for its ‘Pizza, Pots and Pints’ brand in due course.
Coal Drops Yard, the major new complex of restaurants and retailers in King’s Cross, will open on 26 October, developers have announced. It will be home to restaurant and café brands including Barrafina, Monty & Bobs and Casa Pastor.
Brewhouse & Kitchen opened its latest new site in Hoxton on Thursday (19 July). It is located next to Hoxton’s station. Brewhouse & Kitchen now has 21 brewpubs in all.
The 3Sixty Restaurants group is opening a new Ego Mediterranean-style restaurant and bar in Haslington in Cheshire in late August. It follows a refurbishment of the Fox pub in the village, which will now be known as the Ego at the Fox.
French-style brand Bistrot Pierre has set 6 August for the opening of its latest new restaurant in Preston. It has converted a former church in the town for the opening.
Marston’s has opened the Clock Works, a new-build pub and pizza-and-grill restaurant in Ystradgynia in south Wales.
The Deltic Group is launching its late-night Atik brand in Aberdeen. It will replace a nightclub called Institute, which recently closed, and will open in late August. Atik currently has 11 other late-night venues, mostly in medium-sized towns around the UK.
American-style burger brand 7Bone has submitted plans to open a restaurant in Derby It would be a tenth site for the operator, which already has restaurants in Bournemouth, Southampton, Camberley, Reading, Newbury, Eastbourne, Hove, Portsmouth and Weston, and its most northerly location yet.
Steakout, a casual halal steakhouse concept, will open under franchise in Blackburn in the next few weeks, in a site previously occupied by Chiquito. Steakout has eight other restaurants in the UK, in Slough, Tooting, Norbury, Harrow, Luton, Southall, Leicester and Stratford.
Indian street food and craft beer concept The Cat’s Pyjamas has acquired new sites in Sheffield and Chester, according to local reports. The brand already has two sites in Leeds, one in York and two more in development in Harrogate and Wakefield. The new Chester unit will replace Chimichanga in the city’s dining quarter.
Irish pub brand Whelans will open a fourth site in Croydon in late August, in partnership with Star Pubs and Bars.
