- The number of restaurants falling into insolvency has increased by 25% in the last year, according to accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young. New research published shows that 1,412 UK restaurants collapsed in the year to the end of June 2019; the highest number of insolvencies since at least 2014.
- The Ivy Collection has revealed details of its first standalone Ivy Asia restaurant, launching in London’s St Pauls on Monday 18 November. The Richard Caring-backed bar and restaurant group has taken on Jamie Oliver’s former Barbecoa unit, which will receive a full facelift with Ivy Asia's eye-catching interior set to include a fluorescent pink entrance floor and a pink pagoda.
- YO! has launched its first full-service restaurant concept this week at London's Westfield White City shopping centre. YO! Kitchen offers 40 Japanese-inspired sharing plates including curry, ramen and a sashimi 'pizza', and is the next phase in the brand’s movement away from its famous conveyor belt sushi. A second YO! Kitchen will open in Dundrum, Ireland next month.
- A restaurant operator is being sought to take over Kensington Roof Gardens, once one of London’s best-known party venues. Landlord CKL has jointly appointed P-Three and Cushman & Wakefield to find a tenant for the 14,511sq ft space and 0.6 acre rooftop garden. It says the vision is to create a ‘sunrise to sunset offer’ providing an ‘evolving experience’.
- Chef Anthony Demetre’s former Wild Honey restaurant site in London’s Mayfair has been sold. The 2,267 sq ft unit on St George Street has been taken on for a rent of £103,000 per annum and a six-figure premium, which is undisclosed. Demetre relocated Wild Honey to the Sofitel London St James earlier this year.
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