Vietnamese restaurant brand Pho reopened its Great Titchfield Street restaurant on Friday (25 January) after a refurbishment. The site has 60 covers over two floors. Pho will also soon be reopening its Westfield White City restaurant, and has lined up new openings on Church Street in Cardiff and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth in the summer.
Nando’s will open a second restaurant in Dundee in the next few weeks. It will be situated at Camperdown Leisure Park, joining another Nando’s restaurant in the city centre. Nando’s meanwhile opened a new 103-cover restaurant at St Michael’s Retail Park in Basingstoke on Monday (21 January).
Rosa’s Thai Café has set 25 February for the opening of its new restaurant at Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool—its first launch outside London and its 16th restaurant in all.
PizzaExpress is launching an on the go all-day pizza and café concept called ZA. The first site will open in Fenchurch Street in London next month, with more to follow via conversions and acquisitions if it proves successful. The concept will sell hot pizza slices and other items including Italian flatbread, plus coffee, pastries and breakfast and alcoholic drinks. It follows PizzaExpress’ extensive consumer and market research and is part of various initiatives to update the brand this year. PizzaExpress is also opening a new restaurant in Bradford later this year, according to local media. It has submitted plans for a site alongside The Light cinema in the town.
US brand Slim Chickens is continuing a push into the UK by opening on the site of Ed’s Easy Diner on the corner of Old Compton Street and Moor Street in Soho. It was the first Ed’s Easy Diner to launch, in 1987. Slim Chickens already operates on Jams Street in Marylebone and at the St David’s centre in Cardiff.
Community food market operator Mercato Metropolitano has signed to open a 17,500 square feet dining and retail space called MM Factory at the Elephant Park development in London’s Elephant & Castle. It will incorporate micro-restaurants, artisan producers and a centre where people will be able to watch and participate in food production, and will focus on sustainability. Mercato Metropolitano was founded in Milan in 2015.
Coffee and cocktail brand Grind will open in Broadgate Circle in the spring. The 3,000 square feet unit is a second site in the City for Grind after the Royal Exchange, and will have restaurant, bar and grab and go space.
The Restaurant Group’s Brunning & Price brand is to open a pub restaurant in Wordsley near Stourbridge after acquiring Lawnswood House. It plans to launch after a refurbishment in late May.
Five Guys has started recruiting for a new restaurant opening in Peterborough.
Indian restaurant group Asha’s and Jamaican jerk and fried chicken concept Jamaya are to join the line-up at the Touchwood retail and leisure development in Solihull. They will launch at the Upper Jubilee section of the centre in the spring. It is a third UK location for Asha’s, after Birmingham and Manchester, while Jamaya is a new concept.
A new bar and restaurant concept called Beeronomy has just opened in Newcastle city centre. The Hood Street venue is open all day and has been set up by the Mordue Brewery in North Shields.
SSP is to launch a branch of its Beer House pub concept at Norwich train station. The brand already operates at travel hubs including Charing Cross, Glasgow Central, Victoria, Manchester Victoria, Newcastle Airport, Paddington and Waterloo.
UAE-based chicken restaurant group Grillo is to move into the UK with a launch in Leicester in the next few weeks. It will be called The Peri Experts.
A new Greek restaurant called Greek Gyros has opened at the intu Metrocentre in Gateshead.
