Vagabond wine bars have been bought out of administration by Majestic, marking the largest UK wine retailer’s entry into the hospitality market. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, secures the future of nine Vagabond venues – eight in London and one in Birmingham – employing 171 staff. The company’s two outlets at Gatwick airport and its […]
The duo behind Covent Garden’s The Oystermen will this month open an all-day brasserie nearby, taking inspiration from both Paris and Manhattan. Thirty7, at number 37 Bedford Street, is just a few doors from Bedford Street Wines, the wine bar and bottle shop also owned by Matt Lovell and Rob Hampton (pictured), whose list highlights […]
Bar du Champagne, a new bar and bistro that promises fizz at accessible prices backed up by a menu of nibbles to share and comfort food, has opened in Covent Garden. The new venue is from Liana Kazaryan, who ran the former Avobar on the same Henrietta Street premises, and is designed with a retro […]
An all-day family-run café and wine-bar that champions specialities from the city of Lecce in Puglia opens next week in Covent Garden. Capilungo’s co-founders, brother and sister Gianluca and Asia Capilungo, grew up in Lecce and are inspired by their uncle Luca Capilunga, who has run his own bakery there for more than 30 years. […]
A new ‘wine pub’ and restaurant with ten wines on tap (and just a couple of beers) opens in Spitalfields Market next week. Alfi’s ‘draught’ options range from an organic biodynamic Riesling and an orange wine to several fizzies including a pet nat. The operation is being launched by Ben Hodges and Alex Lewis in […]
Wine bar/restaurant Linden Stores, which began life in London before heading north to Cheshire four years, is reopening this month at its third address – in the market town of Knutsford, south of Manchester. The venture was launched in Highbury in 2017 by partners Laura Christie, formerly of Oklava and Kyseri, and Chris Boustead, ex-Opera […]
The Vinoteca wine bar group was bought out of administration this week, removing the threat of closure that had hung over the five-strong operation. The new owners are Breal Capital, an investment firm which is understood to have paid more than £300,000 for the acquisition. Founded by financiers Brent Osborne and Alan McLaren in 2014, […]
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 […]
The historic Islington pie and mash shop M. Manze in Chapel Market is to reopen as a low-intervention wine bar serving British small plates by Alex Pashby of street-food trader The Beefsteaks. The pie, mash and jellied eels shop closed down in 2019 after 108 years in the face of steep increases in rent and […]
The Bleeding Heart Tavern in Farringdon on the edge of the City of London is relaunching next week as a wine-bar – with food at half-price for the first week to anybody who identifies themselves as a “friend”. The tavern was first recorded in 1746 in an area notorious for drunken debauchery, while Charles Dickens mentioned […]
