The company has taken on the former Native site at 3 Neal’s Yard for the first of two planned openings this year.
It comes after the group – whose Smithfield restaurant has held a Michelin star since 2009 - announced it was closing its Maltby Street site in June to focus on the expansion of its bakery business following two successful pop-ups.
The Neal’s Yard site will serve St John’s famous doughnuts, delivered twice daily from their Bermondsey bakery, as well as morning pastries and breads. The team also plan to sell wines, pending the approval of a license.
“We were delighted to discover such demand through the pop-ups, which set us off on the trail of a permanent bakery shop,” says Trevor Gulliver, CEO and co-founder of St John.
“When Neal’s Yard was suggested we immediately knew that it would be the perfect spot, surrounded as it is by like-minded folk.”
The first St John restaurant was opened in Smithfield by Gulliver and Fergus Henderson in 1994, offering a nose-to-tail cooking approach that helped define modern British cuisine.
It was followed by the launch of St John Bread and Wine in Shoreditch in 2003.
The first St John Bakery opened on London’s Druid Street in 2011 and sells doughnuts, breads and more to restaurants, cafes and retail sites across London.