- D&D London’s upcoming Stratford restaurant is to be called Haugen and will take inspiration from Alpine dining in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and France. First announced in early 2020, the restaurant is located within a striking pavilion within the East London borough’s International Quarter London (IQL), a £2.4bn joint venture between Lendlease and regeneration specialist LCR that stands at the gateway to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The name ‘Haugen’ is tribute to an unsung hero of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and a celebration of Stratford’s role in hosting the 2012 London Olympics. In total the restaurant complex will have 544 covers. This includes a ground floor deli with grab-and-go counter; a casual ground floor restaurant featuring an indoor Winter Garden and large terrace; a first-floor dining room and cocktail bar with outdoor terrace and two private dining rooms; and then on the second floor, a rooftop bar with views of Stratford and the Olympic Park.
- Hiring bottlenecks in the UK’s hospitality sector are increasingly prompting hospitality operators to turn to temporary staff to keep up with demand, with wages increasing by nearly 14% in some areas. According to data from jobs marketplace Indeed Flex, analysis of pub, bar and restaurant shifts reveals that temps willing to work at the weekend could benefit most from the rapidly rising wages. Average hourly pay for a weekend shift is now up 9% compared to this time in 2019. Meanwhile weekday pay rates have risen by an average of 5% across the UK, far exceeding the 1.8% rise in the minimum wage between 2019 and 2021.
- Hawksmoor is to open its biggest restaurant to date and its first in London for four years in a floating pavilion on the docks of Wood Wharf at Canary Wharf. Spread over three floors and set to open later this year, the restaurant will include a 150-cover dining room and 120-cover bar, as well as an outdoor dining terrace. Housed in an eco-friendly floating pavilion built by Glenn Howells Architects, it will be located on the opposite side of Canary Wharf to where rival steakhouse group Rare Restaurants is set to open a huge 550-cover M Restaurants site next year.
- Nicola Sturgeon has announced all of Scotland could move to Level 0 on 19 July, with most remaining restrictions potentially set to be dropped on 9 August. Addressing MSPs in Holyrood on Tuesday (22 June), the First Minister confirmed what she hinted at last week that the plan to move the entire country to the lowest level of the country's five-tier system of Coronavirus restrictions on 28 June would not go ahead, and will instead be pushed back by three weeks in order to ensure more people can be vaccinated. It means the next nationwide easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Scotland is now scheduled to happen on the same day all remaining restrictions on social contact are set to be lifted in England. Under Level 0, all curfew restrictions on hospitality businesses will be removed, and up to 10 people from four households will be able to mix in indoor settings. It is also hoped that the general indoor physical distancing requirement will be reduced from two metres to one metre, with social contact limits in outdoor settings scrapped entirely.
- Industry workers and business owners from across the night-time economy will take part in a march through London this weekend to protest ongoing lockdown restrictions being imposed on the sector. The decision to demonstrate follows the Government's recent decision to postpone the final easing of lockdown restrictions in England by four weeks, meaning much of the night-time economy, which has primarily been shut since the start of the pandemic, will be forced to stay closed until at least 19 July. Led by electronic music community campaign group Save Our Scene (SOS), the march is supported by SaveNightlife CIC - the Night Time Industries Association's (NTIA) cultural arm. Kai Cant, the founder of record label Abode, came to SOS with the initial idea for the demonstration, and has since rallied DJs from across all corners of the scene to come together under the rallying cry of #FreedomToDance. The march will depart from Marble Arch at 12pm on Sunday (27 June), making its way to Parliament, with DJ sets from the likes of Alan Fitzpatrick, Eats Everything, East End Dubs, Fat Tony, Franky Wah, Hannah Wants, Jess Bays, Max Chapman, Charlie Tee, Kizzy Alicia, SUAT, Seb Zito, SOSA, Waff, Summer Ghemati, and Wheats.
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