Polpetto restaurant site put up for sale
The 1,350 sq ft Berwick Street location is being marketed by Restaurant Property with a rent of £95,000 per annum. The restaurant remains open and continues to trade.
BigHospitality's sister title MCA reports Polpo's eponymous Notting Hill restaurant, which launched in 2014, is also up for sale and is being marketed by CDG Leisure.
Polpetto was originally opened by Russell Norman and Richard Beatty on the first floor of Soho’s French House pub in 2010, before relocating to the 60-cover Berwick Street site in 2013.
The restaurant, which holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, was refurbished and relaunched to much fanfare last autumn with a new menu and ex-River Café chef Anthea Stephenson at the helm. However, Stephenson is understood to have departed the restaurant after less than two months.
2018 was a difficult year for the Polpo group, which shut its eponymous restaurants in Exeter and Bristol, Spuntino in Bristol, and the Ape & Bird pub in London’s Cambridge Circus over the last 12 months.
Polpo’s managing director Scott Macdonald is also believed to have left his role in late 2018 after less than a year and a half.
The company is now targeting expansion of its New York-inspired Spuntino brand into transport hubs after signing a franchise agreement with TRG Concessions last year. Its first airside location opened at Heathrow Terminal 3 in December.
BigHospitality was unable to reach a representative for the Polpo group for comment.
