People on the move: January 2024

Hill & Szrok

Former P.Franco and Peg chef William Gleave has joined London Fields butcher and restaurant Hill & Szrok as head chef. Gleave - who worked with owner Luca Mathiszig at the venue about five years ago - will look to add a modern spin to historic dishes. Menu options are set to include pork scratchings, cockles and parsley liquor; lamb’s kidneys on toast with mustard sauce; pease pudding; and Lancashire hotpot. Hill & Szrok opened its doors in 2014, with the aim of keeping the notion of the small independent butcher alive and ‘taking whole-carcass butchery to a new level’. A traditional butcher by day, in the evenings Hill & Szrok transforms into a candlelit restaurant with the central marble butcher’s slab becoming a communal table. 

Baozilnn

Chinese restaurateur Shao Wei has appointed Chef Wong to lead his Baozilnn brand ‘in a new direction’. The Malaysian-born chef has a CV that includes top hotels and restaurants in China and a number of high-profile Chinese venues in London. Wong has launched a contemporary Southern Asian sharing plates menu at Baozilnn’s Romilly Street site - which is just across the road from Chinatown in Soho - ahead of turning his attention to the rest of the group. Key dishes include satay skewers; slow-cooked jacob's ladder with shitake; General Tso’s chicken; and chilli crab. Around 30% of Baozilnn’s original menu is being retained, including the colourful dumplings the group has become well-known for.

Julie’s 

Current The Midland Grand Dining Room and Gothic Bar general manager Emma Underwood is to oversee the relaunch of West London restaurant Julie’s. One of London’s best-known front of house professionals, Underwood will join owner Tara MacBain and Owen Kenworthy​​, the restaurant's recently appointed chef-patron, on their mission ‘to bring back the much loved Holland Park restaurant and bar to the London dining scene’. Originally from North Wales, Underwood began her career in the North West working at restaurants including Sticky Walnut, Burnt Truffle and Where The Light Gets In. She moved to London in 2018 and has since held senior front of house roles at restaurants including Stem, Darby’s and The Pem. Julie’s is slated to relaunch this spring. 

The Small Holding

Brothers Will and Matt Devlin have named former Gravetye Manor, The Black Swan at Oldstead and 64 Degrees chef James Chatfield as head chef of their Michelin Green-starred restaurant The Small Holding. Originally from Hailsham, Chatfield’s family has a background in farming, with his uncle and grandfather owning the award-winning Hook & Son dairy and beef farm. Chatfield’s appointment sees the departure of previous head chef Duncan Moran who was at the Kent-based restaurant for five years. 

Mollie’s

Soho House’s Mollie’s brand has appointed Stephanie Freeman to lead its Oxfordshire site as general manager. With over 10 years’ experience in hospitality, Freeman’s CV includes stints at Elite Hotels, IHG and Hilton. She joined the Mollie’s Bristol team in 2021 as floor manager but has progressed quickly through the business. “Stephanie brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of success to her new role as general manager at Mollie’s Oxfordshire,” says Mollie’s managing director Darren Sweetland. “We are thrilled to see her excel in her career and look forward to watching her continue to grow with our company”.

Wingstop UK

Wingstop UK has appointed Rob Ward as its regional manager for London and the South. Overseeing approximately 25 locations, Ward joins from PizzaExpress, where he was optimisation manager. His CV prior to that includes Nando’s. Celia Brown also joins the Wingstop UK team as marketing manager. Her previous roles include positions at Deliveroo and McDonald’s, where she led significant marketing campaigns. Celia joins the brand at an ‘exciting juncture’ as it commences its marketing strategy and brand growth for the year ahead and beyond.

Conrad London St. James

Joan Rull Moreno has joined Hilton’s Conrad London St. James hotel as director of F&B. Most recently at Canopy by Hilton Madrid Castellana, he bring with him ‘extensive’ leadership experience across a number of hotel companies in Spain and Belgium over the past 10 years. Rull Moreno has taken on this role after significant investment in F&B at the central London hotel culminating in the opening of the Blue Boar Pub and The Pem, which are both headed by high-profile chef Sally Abé. “Conrad London St. James is in an incredible location, at the heart of major British institutions from royalty to Government, and we want to reflect this sense of Britishness at every level,” he says. 

The Savoy

Markus Basset has been named bar manager at The Beaufort Bar at London’s The Savoy hotel. Hailing from the Vallee de la Marne Champagne region in France, Basset attended bar school in Munich in 2017. In 2018, he moved to Austria and progressed to assistant bar manager at aDLERS Design Hotel in Innsbruck over the course of three years. In 2021, he relocated to London for the position of assistant bar manager at Fallow restaurant in St James’s, where he assisted in the venue’s reopening post-pandemic. “Assuming the leadership position of the glamorous and luxurious Beaufort Bar has always been a personal aspiration of mine,” says Basset. “I eagerly anticipate the opportunity to collaborate with the team in order to create unforgettable cocktails and experiences for our esteemed guests in this charismatic London venue.”