Turtle Bay Caribbean restaurant comes to London

The restaurant is set to open in November 2014 and will measure 4,000sq.ft, with additional dining space outside for use in sunny weather.

The Scene at Cleveland Place, where the restaurant will be situated, is hoping to attract a number of other leisure operators. Empire Cinemas and Nando’s have already signed up to the development and will open alongside Turtle Bay.

Turtle Bay’s expansion​

The concept for Turtle Bay was created by Jayawickrema in 2010​ after he left Las Iguanas and the brand has since expanded rapidly. It now has sites in Leicester, Nottingham, Bristol, Southampton and Milton Keynes, and plans to open 20 outlets over the next three to five years.​ The Turtle Bay site in London will be part of a new leisure complex and previous sites have been set up in city centres and shopping centres.

Jayawickrema said: “Walthamstow is the perfect place for Turtle Bay to bring our party to next. The area has a special vibe and the community is really fun – just right for our ‘one love’ approach to life at Turtle Bay.

“Waltham Forest is an exciting place to be right now, on its way up in every possible way. The proactive nature of the council is helping Walthamstow to rapidly show signs of being the future of London and we are happy to be there as the sun rises.”

Turtle Bay aims to serve good food in a laid-back environment. They offer a number of traditional dishes inspired by Caribbean beach shacks, with the menu featuring offerings such as Chilli Fried Squid, Trinidad Chicken Curry, and Sweetcorn Fritters. Turtle Bay also offers a jerk pit barbeque with a number of different meats. There is a ‘colourful’ cocktail menu for perusal and the restaurants also have a takeaway option.

The Scene at Cleveland​

The leisure development complex The Scene where the new Turtle Bay will be located is in the centre of Waltham Forest and will host retail units as well as the cinema. This could create a great deal of footfall for the restaurants from both east London residents and tourists.

Turtle Bay is the third commercial lease for the development, and there are three other sites which remain open to restaurant or retail operators.

The leader of Waltham Forest Council Chris Robbins said: “We’re delighted that Turtle Bay is coming to The Scene at Cleveland Place. It sounds like the sort of restaurant our residents will really appreciate and will help make this exciting new development even more appealing.

“We’re particularly honoured that Turtle Bay has decided upon Waltham Forest as the place to open their very first London restaurant. In terms of creating a better place, it’s an indication of the great strides our borough is making.”