Nando’s has received permission to open at the new Drake Circus development in Plymouth. Brands including Zizzi and Byron are among the other restaurants to have been named for the scheme, which will also be home to a 12-screen cinema. Nando’s expects to be open at Drake Circus by October. Nando’s has also announced plans to open at the Phoenix Retail Park in Paisley soon.
Casual Dining Group is to open a Bella Italia restaurant at the Westwood Cross centre in Thanet in July. It will replace the group’s branch of Café Rouge there.
Market Halls has announced the line-up of brands for its new venture at intu Lakeside. They are Burger & Beyond, Curry on Naanstop, Baozi Inn, Fanny’s Kebabs, Mother Clucker and Fundi Pizza. The 14,500 square feet venue will also have bars, a coffee shop and pop-ups when it opens in July. Lakeside is a third opening for Market Halls after Fulham and Victoria, and a West End site is due to follow soon.
Wine bar and restaurant operator Humble Grape has confirmed plans to open a venue on Mackenzie Walk in Canary Wharf in mid-July. It has taken on a unit with a terrace that was previously occupied by Gourmet Pizza. Canary Wharf is a fifth opening for Humble Grape, after Battersea, Fleet Street, Islington and Liverpool Street.
Franco Manca is recruiting for an opening in Leeds, according to local media. The exact location for the restaurant is yet to be confirmed. Franco Manca meanwhile opened a 96-cover site at Bennetts Hill in Birmingham on Thursday (6 June).
US southern-style brand Slim Chickens has set 25 June for the opening of its new restaurant at the Grand Central development in Birmingham. It is the concept’s fourth launch in the UK, after two restaurants in London and one in Cardiff. It replaces the unit at Grand Central previously occupied by Ed’s Easy Diner.
Mitchells & Butlers is to close its Harvester restaurant in Cheltenham’s Brewery Quarter and replace it with a branch of its Son of Steak concept in the autumn. Son of Steak first launched on Trinity Square in Nottingham in 2017.
Pasta Remoli is to open a fourth London restaurant, at the Wembley Park development by Wembley Stadium. Pasta Remoli’s other sites are in Ealing Broadway, Finsbury Park and Westfield Stratford.
Southwest based burger and barbecue operator Hubbox has acquired a site in Cardiff. It has taken a lease on a 3,000 square feet unit at the Mermaid Quay development on Cardiff Bay. Loungers’ Cosy Club is also preparing an opening there. Hubbox currently has seven sites, in Bristol, Exeter, Pentewan, Plymouth, St Ives, Truro and Taunton.
Crazy Pizza, a concept from Flavio Briatore’s Lifestyle Group, has opened on Paddington Street in Marylebone. The brand already operates in Monte Carlo, Dubai and Porto. The group has 17 restaurants worldwide in all.
Chinese-Mongolian hotpot restaurant operator Happy Lamb Hot Pot will open a first UK restaurant at the Office Group building on Bloomsbury Way in London in the next few weeks. The brand started in Mongolia and now has a branch in Cambridge in Massachusetts too.
Catering and hospitality company Rhubarb is to coordinate a new 20,000 square feet food hub called The Market at the 22 Bishopsgate development in the City. It will incorporate a restaurant, terrace and kiosks hosting a rotating line-up of street food operators and pop-ups. It will have 450 covers and will be open to 22 Bishopsgate staff during the day before opening to the public at evenings and weekends. The Young British Foodies scheme is collaborating with Rhubarb on the venture.
The Bulletproof Brew Co has applied for permission to open its first craft beer pub in Plymouth. It plans to convert an old retail unit close to its brewing headquarters, according to local media. The company has previously run a mobile bar at locations in Plymouth.
Brakspear is to open in Abingdon after acquiring the Nag’s Head pub in the town for its managed division.
Glasgow pancake house Stack and Still says it will open a new restaurant in the city this summer, though it has yet to confirm the location. The original Stack and Still opened on West George Street last year.
