Dirty Bones to open first restaurant outside London

Dirty Bones is to open its first restaurant outside of London later this year at the new Westgate Oxford development. 

The American comfort food restaurant, which opened its third site in London last September, will join 25 food and drink operators at the £440m scheme, including Pho, which was also secured through Davis Coffer Lyons and will launch its 21st UK site there. 

Almost 70 per cent of the units at the shopping and leisure centre have been pre-let ahead of its opening in October.

Other restaurants, bars and food outlets confirmed so far are Sticks n Sushi, Polpo, Cinnamon Kitchen, The Breakfast Club, Pizza Pilgrims, The Alchemist, Comptoir Libanais, Shoryu, Pret and Le Pain Quotidien. 

A 140,000 sq ft John Lewis department store will anchor the new centre, based in Oxford's city centre, with a host of retailers and a Curzon Cinema also set to open there. 

Stephen Wall, founder of Vietnamese restaurant concept Pho said: “A lot of research goes into identifying the perfect base for our restaurants and Westgate Oxford ticked all the boxes for us. The site is well-designed, inviting and in an unbeatable location. We’re looking forward to opening Pho in what looks set to be the most exciting new addition to one of the UK’s most visited cities this year.”

Naomi Howard, leasing director at Land Securities said: “We are delighted to welcome such high calibre brands to our already impressive line-up at Westgate Oxford. Demand to date has been fantastic for both the retail and leisure offer, ensuring that when October comes Oxford will be a buzzing and vibrant destination to shop, to eat, to drink and to meet friends and watch the sun set over the city’s famous spires. 

"We are continuing our conversations with new brands who are looking at Westgate Oxford as their next opportunity to reach their target shopper, and we look forward to announcing more details now that we are reaching the final phase of our lettings cycle.”