The top 5 stories in hospitality this week 22/08 - 26/08
From high-profile restaurant lists to chefs writing to the Mayor of London, it was eventful this week. Here’s some of the top stories
- Simon Rogan’s Cumbrian flagship restaurant L’Enclume was named the UK’s best this week in the Waitrose 2017 Good Food Guide, with Restaurant Nathan Outlaw coming in second of the 50-name list. L’Enclume won the title for the fourth time running, with a perfect 10 score. James Close from The Raby Hunt in Darlington took Chef of the Year, while Orwells in Henley won Restaurant of the Year.
- In another high-profile list, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay topped the All In London Ultimate Restaurant List 2016 this week, scoring 9.125 and knocking The Ledbury off the number one spot for the first time since the list first began in 2012. The 100-restaurant list is compiled using a mathematical algorithm of other restaurant awards and ratings from the past 12 months.
- Suffolk-based hospitality firm The Chestnut Group has raised £2.5m to help it expand to 10 sites by the end of 2018. The group, which was founded by former banker Philip Turner in 2013, has just acquired its fifth site, and raised the cash via the Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS).
- In sadder news, Mexican street food venture Santo Remedio, in London’s Shoreditch, announced that it would close for good this week following a temporary closure for ‘essential electrical works’. Opened just five months ago by Edson Diaz-Fuentes and his wife Natalie, the well-reviewed site was announced as closing on 24 August, due to ‘problems outside [their] control’.
- This week marked a campaign from chefs including Ed Baines, Mark Hix, and Theo Randall to ask London mayor Sadiq Khan to ban polystyrene packaging. The group’s open letter, who signatories also included chef and TV presenter Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and editor of Waitrose Kitchen magazine William Sitwell, called the packaging “the scourge of Soho” and claimed it was difficult to recycle, non-ecologically friendly, and cluttered up London’s streets.
