In an interview with the Evening Standard, the celebrity chef, campaigner and restaurateur said that there were parts of Spain Hall that he wanted to develop.
“In theory, we will run a restaurant from here and a bakery,” he told the London paper. “We’re building a studio for production and a new cookery school and I want to eventually open it up to the public in some shape or form.”
“This place is big enough to handle that and, as much as we love having complete privacy, houses like this need to be kept alive by being part of the community.”
Oliver will return to the restaurant world later this year with Jamie Oliver Catherine Street.
Located within a Grade 1 listed site in London’s Covent Garden, the restaurant is being billed as ‘produce-focused; and will be headed by head chef Chris Shail, who previously worked alongside Oliver for eight years, along with pastry chef Emma Jackson, who has worked at Soho Farmhouse and Petersham Nurseries.
The duo will work alongside Oliver to create a menu ‘that is reflective of Jamie’s love of Britain’s rich and diverse food culture, and champions independent producers and suppliers’.
The site will mark a permanent return to the UK restaurant scene for Oliver whose UK business collapsed in 2019, leading to the closure of the chef’s nationwide Jamie’s Italian chain, as well as his Barbecoa and Fifteen restaurants.
