Friday Five: the week's top news
- Craft beer brewer and operator Brewdog will open its biggest ever venue next month. Within the newly redeveloped The Sidings in Waterloo Station, Brewdog Waterloo is believed to be the UK's largest pub at 27,500 sq ft and is billed as an immersive craft beer destination. Located beneath the major London station's rail platforms, the venue will feature co-working spaces and pods, a micro brewery, a GRIND café, duckpin bowling alleys, podcast studio, meeting rooms, not-for-profit floristry, a retro ice-cream van and a ‘hidden’ cocktail bar. The latter will be run by London mixologist Rich Woods, aka The Cocktail Guy.
- Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver are heading to Marylebone to open their third restaurant in the capital. St John Marylebone will open in September and will join the duo’s existing London restaurants,St John in Smithfield and St John Bread and Wine in Shoreditch. It will be an all-day, wine-led venue inspired by the bars of Paris and Florence that will take a similar approach as at the group’s other sites with a ‘cheeky’, menu that will evolve throughout the day. The menu will be overseen by Henderson and chef director Jonathan Woolway and have nods to the culinary luxuries Henderson enjoys, including caviar.
- Chef Tony Parkin is set to leave The Tudor Room at Great Fosters Hotel in Surrey later this summer. Parkin joined The Tudor Room in 2019 and attracted a Michelin star just four months later. Tony Parkin at The Tudor Room was ranked 27th in Restaurant by BigHospitality’s list of the top 100 restaurants in the UK last month. Parkin’s modern cooking - which is influenced by his overseas travels - was believed by many to be somewhat out of step with the old-fashioned feel of the The Tudor Room, which features dark wood panelling and elaborate tapestries. “I am incredibly proud of what the team and I have achieved, and it feels like the right time to close the door on this chapter. I am looking forward to focussing on new projects and showcasing my food in a different environment,” he said.
- Santiago Lasta's Michelin-starred Mexican restaurant KOL has entered The World's 50 Best Restaurants longlist, which was revealed this morning (5 July) ahead of its annual awards ceremony later this month. KOL is one of three UK restaurants, all located in London, to have made the 51-100 list for 2022, and also the country's only new entry, coming in at number 73. Shoreditch favourite Lyle’s drops out of the World's 50 Best list, having featured in it since 2018, to come in at number 54; while Tomos Parry’s Brat, also in Shoreditch, ranks at number 81, having first entered the 50 Best longlist last year. This year's 51-100 list features 20 new entries from 15 different cities. In total it includes restaurants in 22 territories across six continents, with the addition of new entries from the Middle East, not previously included in last year’s list. The highest new entry in the longlist is Trèsind Studio, Dubai, UAE at number 57.
- Cabin Studio, the operator behind successful London restaurant Sessions Arts Club and the recently opened Boath House hotel in Scotland, is planning at least two further sites in the capital. Jonny Gent, founder of Cabin Studio, tells BigHospitality that the group is in negotiations to acquire a site in Soho for its first London hotel; and is also looking at locations elsewhere in the city. The plans form part of a wider strategy to expand the business globally, with the group also looking at potential outposts in Majorca, the south of France, and New York. Gent says the Soho hotel will have up to 20 bedrooms; a ground floor restaurant with space for around 70 covers; basement bar; and outside garden.
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