River Cottage to open in Plymouth following sale of Bath Canteen
The 120-cover River Cottage Plymouth will be one of three restaurants in the city's mixed-use Royal William Yard development, and will occupy a 4,725sqft corner plot in the Brewhouse building.
An external patio area overlooking Plymouth Sound provides seating for an additional 60 covers and has the potential to be developed further.
It's launch comes as Fearnley-Whittingstall recently sold his Bath River Cottage Canteen back to the Komedia in Westgate Street, which now trades the venue as Komedia Canteen.
A spokesperson for the restaurant said: "River Cottage is still a partner but the Komedia is now a whole. We are continuing to use locally sourced food and recipes that have stayed the same from the River Cottage menu but the restaurant is not specifically branded River Cottage anymore."
Fearnley-Whittingstall first launched River Cottage Canteen and Deli in Axminster in 2008 followed by the second outlet in Bath in 2009.
He said the group's new location in Plymouth was perfectly suited to the brand.
“Royal William Yard is the perfect setting for River Cottage,” he said. “Its location and scenery are the perfect backdrop for what we are about as a brand and we can’t wait to open our doors later this summer.”
River Cottage Canteen Plymouth is joined at Royal William Yard by Prezzo, which opened earlier this month, and Seco Lounge, an outlet from the Loungers group which recently acquired the adjoining space to extend into a 15-20 cover private dining area, which is expected to be trading by Christmas.
Also soon to launch at the development are an as yet unnamed 90-bedroom branded boutique hotel and an upmarket urban bakery.
Plymouth's Dining Quarter
Martin Bloom of Insight Retail, which consulted on all the hospitality and retail lettings at the development, said he and developer Urban Splash hoped to rejuvenate the restaurant scene in Plymouth by ensuring Royal William Yard was a food-led area.
“Plymouth has a stigma of being widely wet-led, but our ambition is to rejuvenate the city with a new dining quarter.
“River Cottage will really complement and add a new level of dining experience at the scheme. We are now looking forward to continuing to develop on the existing restaurant line-up as well as develop upon other initiatives for the Yard so as to develop RWY as one of the new eating out and family leisure quarters in Plymouth.”
Fearnley-Whittingstall also operates a River Cottage farm and cookery school near Uplyme in Devon, which acts as the group’s headquarters.
