Friday Five: the week's top news
- PizzaExpress is the latest Italian casual dining chain to trial an overhaul of its design and service in a bid to 'future-proof' the business. The company is to relaunch its Oxford Circus and Leeds Arena sites as test-beds for the new offer, which includes a larger bar space for up to 30 covers and extended cocktail list.
- Alyn Williams has left his role as chef patron at The Wild Rabbit gastropub in Kingham after less than a year. Williams, who joined the Cotswolds pub in May 2018, has returned to London full-time to focus on his eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant at The Westbury hotel.
- Carl Clarke and David Wolanski's CHIK'N is finally opening a second London site, with the team saying they have righted the wrongs of the past. Clarke says the restaurant, launching on Wardour Street in May, will offer a menu closer aligned to its sister Chick'n'Sours brand.
- High-end restaurant and nightclub operator Hakkasan posted a pre-tax loss of £33m for the year ending 30 June 2018, down from a £112m loss the previous year. Accounts show revenue grew 6% in the UK following the closure of Michelin-starred London restaurant HKK in 2017.
- The former home of the London Metropolitan Police is to reopen as a luxury hotel with a restaurant overseen by chef Robin Gill this year. The Whitehall site has undergone a £75m revamp to transform it in to the 153-room Great Scotland Yard Hotel.
For more of this week's news, click here.
