The Kitty Hawk 'department store for dining' to open in London

The first venture from the Wright & Bell group, the multi-million pound, 10,400 sq ft development will include different 'departments', including a bar and kitchen area open from 7am to midnight, a grill restaurant, a cocktail bar, a private dining room, and a bar and patisserie serving coffee, breakfast-to-go, and pastries. The bar space will then become a wine bar available for private hire in the evenings.

The site - which will have 420 seats and overall capacity for 480 - is expected to be the first of six venues from the group, which is planning to roll out across the City of London and West End imminently.

The South Place venue is set to specialise in homemade cocktails, coffee, fresh cakes, and homemade flatbreads, and will aim to celebrate the provenance and artisanal nature of produce, including meat, roasted fairtrade coffee, and artisanal-style spirits.

The space has been designed to accommodate all kinds of occasions, including breakfast, business meetings, coffee-shop working, Champagne brunches, long lunches, early evening snacks, and dinners, with an interior designed by the Russell Sage Studio, who also worked on the Indian-style London group Dishoom, and King's Cross restaurant Grain Store.

Design touches include materials such as exposed timber and concrete, steel, copper, marble, and hand-stitched leather seating.

Jayne Baker, the Kitty Hawk's managing director, commented: “Wright & Bell is influenced by the great inventors of our past, Sir Alexander Graham Bell and the Wright Brothers, who dared to dream, and taught the world to fly.

"We are the creators and architects of 'The Department Stores of Dining', bringing together a dynamic mix of drinking, dining, working and retail experiences."