Pho reveals expansion plans with Brighton restaurant launch

Vietnamese restaurant chain Pho has announced plans to expand the business outside London, with its fourth site due to launch in Brighton in April.​

Pho founders Stephen and Juliette Wall plan to launch two more London sites this year before rolling the concept out to cities such as Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool and Manchester.

Stephen Wall told BigHospitality that they were looking at cities with a similar consumer demographic to their existing London sites in Clerkenwell, Oxford Circus​ and Westfield shopping centre​, but hadn’t intended to expand outside London so quickly.

“We found the property in Brighton’s south lanes probably a few years before we would have liked, but it was in such a wonderful location that we had to go for it,” he said. “Brighton was always going to be the first place outside of London we wanted to launch, as it has the right consumer base we’re after. I honestly don’t think we would have found a site this good if we had waited a couple more years.”

Pho Brighton​

The Wall’s have enlisted Jamie’s Italian and Quo Vadis designer Martin Brudnizki to design the 130-cover interior, which will feature an open kitchen overlooked by a bar, similar to its sister restaurant at Westfield.

“Pho Brighton is considerably bigger and will be designed slightly differently to our other sites, but we’re still taking inspiration from our cuisine. It’s all about the food. We feel the British public have a love affair with Asian food and we have a deliciously healthy offering with a good price point.”

While Pho Brighton will launch at the end of April, the Wall’s are currently in negotiations for a fifth site in Soho and hope to strike a deal within the next month.