Hawksmoor to open second restaurant in Covent Garden
The Underdog Group has announced plans to open a second site of its popular British steakhouse, Hawksmoor, in September this year.
Underdog directors Will Beckett and Huw Gott signed an agreement for part of the former Watney Combe Brewery near Seven Dials in Covent Garden this week, and expect to start work on refurbishing the interior in May.
Beckett, who along with Gott took seven months to find an appropriate site, told BigHospitality that the decision to expand was an ‘obvious one’.
“We’ve just made the original Hawksmoor in Commercial Street bigger, from an 85 to a 110-capacity restaurant, and we’re still pretty overbooked. So it makes sense for us to open another site. If that demand continues after the opening of our second site, we’ll carry on expanding I suppose.
“It took us so long to find the right location that had the right rent price and that we really loved, but we plumped for the Old Brewery in the end because it’s just so beautiful there.”
Hawksmoor design
The 120-cover restaurant will be designed by Macaulay Sinclair, and will copy the same style as its sister venue, launched in 2006, using exposed brickwork and cast iron columns to contrast its simple furnishings.
A 50-cover bar area will serve the full restaurant menu, including Hawksmoor’s famous steaks and burgers, as well as a separate bar menu.
Beckett and Gott’s Underdog Group also operate Green & Red Mexican Bar and Cantina in Shoreditch.
