Boxpark opens its new Wembley Park collective of street food style operators on Saturday (8 December). It will be the biggest Boxpark to date, with a line-up of more than 20 businesses, including coffee bar Boki, tapas concept TapaVino, Italian street food vendor WOLF, sandwich shop Gabagools, Indian operator Bombay Burrito, Mexican brand Hola Guacamole, noodle specialist Zucla, Caribbean concept Mama Jacq’s, dumpling seller Ugly Dumpling and burger joints Cut & Grind and Nanny Bills. The 20,000 square feet venue will feature events and launches with a two-day party over the weekend.
Frontier Pubs, the joint venture between Ei Managed Investments and leading pub operator Pioneer Hospitality, has opened a new pub in Dalston: The Duke of Wellington. Another opening, The Grosvenor Arms in Wandsworth, follows next Wednesday (12 December), taking Frontier’s total number of London pubs to nine. The pubs combine craft beer, pizza and sports. Peter Myers, commercial director at Pioneer Hospitality, said: “We are delighted with the success and continued growth of Frontier Pubs since we launched just over two years ago.”
Nando’s and PizzaExpress have both opened new restaurants at the St Mark’s Square development in Bromley this week.
Hertfordshire brewery McMullen has opened a branch of its Chicken & Grill pub and restaurant concept in Biggleswade. The new-build pub and restaurant, called The King’s Reach, will be followed by another launch in Cambourne next year.
Harcourt Inns will open The Crown pub and restaurant on Chiswick High Road in January. It will be Harcourt’s fourth site, joining the Three Cranes in the City, the Coach in Clerkenwell and the Hero of Maida in Maida Vale. The pub has 6,000 square feet of space over two floors in a 17th century building, and food will be Mediterranean-based.
Food hall concept Market Halls has secured an alcohol licence for its planned opening in York, local media report. It will be the group’s first venue outside London and will be in Stonebow House in York. Try Market Halls already operates in Fulham and Victoria in London, with another by Oxford Circus to follow in the spring.
English winery Chapel Down is to launch a new bar, restaurant and brewery in Ashford in Kent in late March. The bar and two dining rooms will be alongside the new home of Chapel Down’s Curious Brewery, which will be able to produce around 4.5 million pints of beer a year. The new-build venue had its topping-out ceremony this week.
US all-day diner-style chain Dennys will open at the Intu Braehead development on Monday (10 December). It is a second site in the UK after the brand’s debut in Swansea, and more restaurant openings are planned in 2019.
Eggslut, a US-based fast-casual restaurant concept based around eggs, is to announce a London restaurant early next year. The brand was launched in 2011 as a food truck, and currently has five sites in the US and one in Beirut. It plans more international openings after the London launch.
Dumpling chain Din Tai Fung opened its first UK restaurant on Henrietta Street in Covent Garden on Wednesday (5 December). Din Tai Fung has around 150 restaurants around the world and has pushed beyond its native Taiwan into the US, Australia and the Middle East. The London site has 250 covers over 8,000 square feet across two floors. More UK openings are planned for 2019, including in the redeveloped Centre Point.
Steakhouse concept Miller & Carter opened a new restaurant in Beaconsfield last week. It follows a refurbishment of Mitchells & Butlers Harvester restaurant on the site.
Brewhouse & Kitchen is to open a pub and restaurant in Worthing after acquiring the Beechwood Hall hotel in the town. It will reopen next year after a major refurbishment. Brewhouse & Kitchen has meanwhile just opened its 22nd site in Southsea in Hampshire.
Retailer H&M has launched the first UK branch of its café concept It’s Pleat at its store in Westfield White City. The all-day operation has salads, sandwiches and is open until 10pm from Monday to Saturday.
Brewery Robinsons has acquired The Seacroft, a pub in Anglesey.
Edinburgh’s Vittoria Group will open a new 300-cover restaurant and bar called Bertie’s in the city on Monday (10 December). The 11,000 square feet restaurant is in a former church building in Edinburgh’s Old Town. Vittoria operates several Italian restaurants in Edinburgh, but the food at Bertie’s will be focused on fish and chips and other British classics.
