Whitbread is calling time on 261 restaurants with the loss of 3,800 jobs, in the biggest mass-closure to hit UK hospitality since the Covid era. The company confirmed this week that it will close all its restaurants under various brands, including 106 Beefeater steak houses and 89 Brewers Fayre family-friendly carveries, by 10 September as […]
Gary Usher is closing his bistro Hispi in Didsbury next month, when it will be taken over by fellow northwest chef Andrew Sheridan’s Open Restaurant Group and relaunched as a live-fire restaurant called Arcadian. The new owners have pledged to retain all Hispi staff, so there will be no job losses. For Gary, whose Chester-based […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 26th July 2026 The Guardian Lennox, Manchester Grace Dent tested the new concept from Nico Simeone, the “indefatigable” Scottish-Italian chef behind the Six by Nico chain. This would be very different, he promised – à la carte, focused on dry-aged […]
Leading West African restaurant Akoko has applied for a new premises licence that would see it moving across Fitzrovia from Berners Street to Wells Street. Westminster Council invited members of the public to comment on the proposed move by July 8. The application covers the ground floor and basement of the premises at 14-16 Wells […]
Live-fire restaurant Nela (pictured) has closed down after less than a year at the revamped Whiteley’s shopping centre in Bayswater – to be replaced by a similar venture under a new name and ownership. The new occupant is Kaio, funded by an unnamed private investor and operated by hospitality consultants Berkeley Simmons Leisure – who have retained […]
Sushi master Endo Kazutoshi has announced plans to open an intimate, 10-seater omakase restaurant in Chelsea in October – just over a year after a 14-hour fire destroyed his flagship at the top of the White City. The new venue, called simply Endo, will take over the townhouse near Sloane Square occupied until February last year […]
Army officer-turned-singer/songwriter James Blunt has taken over the Carpenter’s Arms in Hammersmith, his second pub after the Fox and Pheasant, his local in Chelsea. James acquired the cute Victorian pub in elegant St Peter’s Square from Jack Greenall of Wren Pubs, owners of The Surprise in Chelsea and The Walmer Castle in Notting Hill. A […]
An ambitious new restaurant opens next week in one of the most historic buildings in Leeds, with a kitchen headed by chef Craig Rogan, son of L’Enclume’s Simon Rogan. Moods has taken over the ground floor of Grade II-listed First White Cloth Hall on Kirkgate, which was fully restored five years ago. Built in 1711 […]
Our round-up of what the nation’s restaurant critics were writing about in the week up to 19th July 2026 The Guardian Vieni, Birmingham Grace Dent found the “happy hubbub” of satisfied diners in Brum’s Jewellery Quarter at a “small, Sicilian and scrappy” restaurant from Angelina Adamo, a chef whose motto is “Bite off more than you can chew”. […]
A Sri Lankan entrepreneur has opened his first international outpost in Canary Wharf – Prawn Crazy, which he has ambitions to turn into a global brand. Apinash Sivagumaaran launched Isso (meaning prawn in Sinhala) ten years ago as a 16-seater dining spot in central Colombo, and has grown it to a group of five across […]
