Native to relocate to London Bridge following closure

17-May-2018 - Last updated on 17-May-2018 at 15:29 GMT

London restaurant Native has confirmed it is to relocate to the London Bridge area following its closure this week.

The Covent Garden restaurant announced last week it had to leave its Neal’s Yard site after three years as landlord Shaftesbury had decided not to renew its lease.

Native will close after dinner service on 19 May, before reopening at 32 Southwark Street on 5 June.

Founders Ivan Tisdall-Downes and Imogen Davis are planning to launch a Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds towards equipment for the new site, and support Native’s 12 staff members during the closure.

The new 60-cover site will feature a dedicated bar area and maintain the restaurant’s zero-waste ethos, focusing on entirely British, home-grown and foraged ingredients.

Dishes will include fallow deer with caramelised cauliflower and carrot top salsa verde; and fermented truffle potato risotto with tamari and spenwood.

There will also be a range of ‘Chef’s Wasting Snacks’, a selection of canapes made using fish skins, potato peelings and even wine to ensure nothing goes to waste.

The closure of Native, which started out as a pop-up in 2015, comes amid a period of change for the Neal’s Yard, Soho and Covent Garden area with landlord Shaftesbury signing several new restaurants.

“Shaftesbury were fantastic in giving us the opportunity to launch Native and were a great help to us in our early days,” says Davis.

“We will definitely be sad to leave but are excited for what the future holds and look forward to new adventures in SE1.”