The company has signed a lease agreement, conditional on obtaining licence approval, for a 32,500sq ft site split over two floors and accommodating around 500 seats, with planning already granted.
Described as being “the centrepiece of Waterloo”, the market will anchor a £200m redevelopment of 135,000sq ft within Waterloo station, which is being led by property company LCR, which will bring the former International Eurostar Terminal back into use with a variety of local, independent and national retail and leisure offerings.
The market will bring together an eclectic mix of 17 of the city’s most acclaimed chefs and restaurateurs, according to Time Out, as well as three bars and a space for ‘cultural experiences’.
“London was the birthplace of Time Out in 1968 so it is a true milestone to bring Time Out Market to our city and in such a fantastic location,” says Julio Bruno, CEO of Time Out Group.
“For 50 years we have helped people go out better in the greatest cities around the world and now we are bringing the best of the city to Time Out Market London.”
“London is home to an outstanding and wonderfully diverse culinary and cultural scene of which Time Out Market will showcase the very best,” says Didier Souillat, CEO of Time Out Market.
“It is all about the democratisation of fine dining: making it casual, and casual extraordinary. Time Out Market will be a place where locals and visitors can really get to know and experience the city.”
Time Out had previously announced a Time Out Market in Spitalfields, for which it continues to pursue planning consent. If successful, opening would not occur before the second half of 2020, providing Time Out Market with a presence in both east as well as central London.
The first Time Out Market opened in 2014 in Lisbon and is now claimed to be the Portugal’s most popular attraction with 3.6 million visitors in 2017.
The company has seven new sites in the pipeline, with Time Out Markets set to open in Miami, New York, Boston, Chicago and Montreal next year; followed in 2021 by London and Prague. The sites in Montreal and Prague will be the group’s first management agreements.
Food and restaurant collectives remain an area of growth in the capital. Last month street food collective KERB announced that it will open a food hall in a former warehouse building in Covent Garden, which is expected to open next summer. Boxpark recently opened its third London shipping container outlet in Wembley.
Following on from the success of its Fulham site, Market Halls recently opened a second venue in London’s Victoria, with a third site, its largest to date, due to open on the former BHS site on Oxford Street next spring.
The company also intends to open a market in York and is looking at sites in other cities, including Liverpool.