Three high-profile but very different London dining destinations whose futures have all been in doubt are set to reopen in the next few weeks: Soho’s historic L’Escargot, smart Islington brasserie Bellanger, and Clapton’s funky wine bar P Franco. L’Escargot in Greek Street, the city’s oldest French restaurant (est. 1927), is to open on Wednesday 24 […]
An independent restaurant faces closure after losing £50,000 in a bank account scam. Natalia Ribbe and Jackson Berg of Barletta, at the Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate, say they have been “totally crippled” by the fraud. A friend has launched a crowdfunding campaign to help keep them in business. Natalia noticed suspicious activity in their […]
Chef/entrepreneur Gary Usher of Cheshire-based Elite Bistros is launching another crowdfunding campaign next week – after admitting defeat in his most ambitious fundraiser yet, an attempt to sell shares in the company to help bankroll a suite of projects. Gary will return to familiar – and highly successful – ground in next week’s new launch, aimed at raising […]
Cheshire-based chef and crowdfund wizard Gary Usher is to launch his most ambitious round of fundraising yet, with a £2 million Crowdcube drive next month to finance a new round of expansion for his Elite Bistros empire. In a series of tweets, he unveiled plans for a new brand and three new sites, including one […]

Smoke & Salt founders Remi Williams and Aaron Webster, who opened a small plates concept at Pop Brixton in June 2017, are launching a crowdfunding push to finance their first bricks and mortar site. The pair are hoping to open in Tooting, south west London, after seeing success and accolades running their temporary project in […]

The founders of Santo Remedio, the highly rated Shoreditch Mexican that closed after just five months last year, have reopened their trendy street food spot in Bermondsey’s Tooley Street today (7 September). Edson and Natalie Diaz-Fuentes managed to raise the £40,000 they were looking for on Kickstarter by 7 June in order to revive the restaurant and […]
Gary Usher, the king of Kickstarter chefs, is chasing his third round of crowdfunding to launch the fourth restaurant of his northwestern empire – with fellow chefs led by Tom Kerridge (pictured) rallying to help. Usher needs pledges totalling £200,000 – significantly more than in his first two campaigns – by June 8 in order to proceed with his planned restaurant Wreckfish in Liverpool. […]
Brighton’s Chilli Pickle has reached its £700,000 crowdfunding target to bankroll an expansion into four “affulent market towns” in southern England. The first new branch is expected to open this summer. Chef Alun Sperring and his wife Dawn opened the original Chilli Pickle, serving authentic regional Indian cuisine, in Brighton’s Lanes in 2007. Having twice outgrown its surroundings […]
Cotswolds-based MasterChef finalist and former banker Andrew Kojima is opening his first restaurant, Koj, in Cheltenham next week on the back of successful pop-up and crowd-funding campaigns. He trialled the venture – and the Regent Street venue – as a pop-up in the run-up to Christmas, generating enough interest to raise £55,000 from more than 200 backers. […]
The Real Junk Food Project in Manchester has reached its crowdfunding target of £20,000, so should now be able to achieve its goal of opening a permanent pay-what-you-feel kitchen. The restaurant, slated to open in central Manchester this year, will only use ingredients that would otherwise have been thrown away. The aim is to show […]