Flagship Byron to open in Haymarket, further expansion revealed

05-Apr-2011 - Last updated on 06-Apr-2011 at 14:10 GMT

Tom Byng plans to open Byron's 15th and 16th restaurants this autumn

Byron, the rapidly-expanding hamburger chain, is to open a flagship restaurant at Haymarket in London next week, ahead of two further openings this autumn.

Located at 11 Haymarket, the restaurant will be themed around the city of London, featuring a white telephone box entrance and walls decorated with illustrations of iconic London landmarks like St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Thames as well as buskers, pigeons and hackney cabs.

Named Byron London, the 130-cover restaurant will be the 14th for founder Tom Byng, who opened his last restaurant at Charing Cross Road in January.

He told BigHospitality that the concept for his “landmark” restaurant was born from a desire to both fit into the surrounding area and attract tourists.

“Haymarket is one of London’s most famous streets. We had a particularly grand building to work with, with huge ceilings and ornate decorative features, so we wanted to do justice to the heritage of both the building and the street.

“Also, that part of town is quite a draw for tourists, which got us thinking about the kind of restaurants tourists go to when they come to London, and why does it always have to be places like the Hard Rock Café and Planet Hollywood that aren’t really London restaurants at all but just expressions of the American chains. So we wanted to do a proper London restaurant, something that represented what we feel is quintessentially London.

“It’s not naff or tacky; it’s something that’ll be done the Byron way that reflects the real London as we see it. On that basis tourists will love it but if you live and work around Haymarket you won’t come in and think it’s some ghastly tacky themed restaurant.

“We try not to be a cookie cutter brand when it comes to design; we try to do each one individually.”

Byron’s London expansion

Byron also plans to open two further restaurants before the end of the year, both of which will be regular Byrons.

Rathbone Place in Soho is expected to launch in September, while a site at the Greenwich Promenade development, near the famous Cutty Sark ship, is due to launch in October.

Byng added that while he felt further expansion potential lay in London, he wouldn’t rule out opening further afield if the right opportunity arose.

“We feel Byron would work well in locations like Brighton, Oxford and Cambridge, but we’re in no great hurry to expand out of town,” he said.

Byng opened his first Byron restaurant in Kensington High Street in 2007.