Pizza Express and Dean's Diner sign at CBRE Investors' Port Solent scheme

Pizza Express has taken the 5,100 sq ft unit 21 which was a former Caffe Uno on a 25-year lease. Richoux’s Dean’s Diner has taken units 30/31 to create a 2,000 sq ft restaurant on a 25-year lease. Rents were not disclosed.

Tim Clark, head of retail at Hughes Ellard, which is jointly advising CBRE Investors with Restaurant Property, said: “These latest deals follow on from deals with La Cuisine for a 1,513 sq ft kitchen shop and café and a 1,491 sq ft office letting to local media company Sticky Design towards the end of last year. We are now approaching full occupancy with only two restaurant/bar opportunities, both with fantastic external terraces, and two retail opportunities remaining.”

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PropertyWeek.com 21st February 2011

Giuliano Lotto to open Mayfair Restaurant

On behalf of Grosvenor Estate Restaurant Property brokered the deal to Veteran restaurateur Giuliano Lotto, a former director of A-Z Restaurants, to launch a new high end Italian restaurant in London this year in partnership with Peter and Arjun Waney, co-founders of Zuma and La Petit Maison.

The team, who have been working together on Il Baretto in Marylebone, have taken over the former site of a NatWest bank on North Audley Street, a stone’s throw from Grosvenor Square.

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CatererSearch.com 14th January 2011

Restaurateurs sign prelet for Italian restaurant at 30 North Audley Street

Three leading restaurant operators have teamed up to launch a new Italian restaurant in Mayfair.

Giuliano Lotto, a former director of A-Z Restaurants, which helped launch the careers of Gordon Ramsay and Marcus Wareing, has joined forces with Peter and Arjun Waney, the co-founders of Japanese restaurant brands Zuma and Roka.

The trio have signed a pre-let with Grosvenor at its 30 North Audley Street development and will pay £180,000 a year, reflecting a rent of £50/sq ft. The 15-year lease on a 3,700 sq ft restaurant on the ground and basement floors of the former Natwest Bank building, also includes a 12 month rent free period.

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PropertyWeek.com 13th January 2011

David Rawlinson: London is giving property food for thought

It’s a good time to be in the restaurant business, especially in London. The UK doesn’t have as many Michelin stars, in total,
as France or Italy, but London is a gastronomic powerhouse. Not only is it home to 48 of the UK’s 140 Michelin stars, but more than a quarter of all UK restaurants are located here as well. And it is not just a question of quantity: the quality is
constantly improving as we all become more interested in food and more discerning. Landlords have also become more enthusiastic about quality food. Many are keen to build up the restaurant elements of their schemes and are aware of the knock-on bene‡ ts that carefully selecting the right mix of restaurants to create a new sense of place and increase dwell times can have on rents.

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PropertyWeek.com 29th October 2010

BBC’s The Restaurant winners open cocktail bar with Raymond Blanc

The winners of the BBC’s TV show The Restaurant – JJ Goodman and James Hopkins – will open a cocktail bar with Raymond Blanc at the end of November.

The pair, who entered the show as directors at The London Cocktail Club, competed against eight other couples to win the final series of the reality TV series last year and the business support of top names in the industry.

As well as Raymond Blanc, who will back the duo with his culinary expertise, other partners in the venture are his advisers on The Restaurant, David Moore and Sarah Willingham.

The London Cocktail Club will be located on Goodge Street in London, and will be housed in a basement site previously occupied by the Manouche wine bar.

The interior of the 50-seat site, which was acquired by the leisure specialist Restaurant Property, will be developed by the B2 Design Group and will include a mix between the contemporary and the historic.  It will have quirky features such as an old phone box guests have to walk through to get to the main bar.

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BigHospitality.co.uk 26th October 2010

Grosvenor banks on Mayfair eaterie

Grosvenor is transforming a former NatWest bank into an upmarket restaurant in London’s Mayfair as part of a larger luxury flat redevelopment

Arjun and Peter Waney, co-founders of Japanese brands Zuma and Roka, are in talks to take 6,000 sq ft for the restaurant at 30 North Audley Street.

David Rawlinson, director at Restaurant Property, which advised Grosvenor, said: “This was the strongest restaurant location and the best available space in Mayfair, which serves tourists, shoppers and the local affluent residential population.”

Helen Franks, leasing director at Grosvenor, said: “This is a catalyst to improve the north Mayfair area and will put North Audley Street on the map.”

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PropertyWeek.com 27th August 2010

Gordon Ramsay confirms new restaurant opening in the City

The celebrity chef's company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH), has exchanged contracts for a site at the office and retail scheme, which is located close to St Paul's cathedral. High end leisure specialist Restaurant Property brokered the deal for GRH.

The move makes Ramsay the second high profile chef to open a restaurant at One New Change after Jamie Oliver, who will open Barbecoa, a joint venture with US chef and barbeque enthusiast Adam Perry Lang, in the autumn.

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CatererSearch.com 10th August 2010

Restaurant Property lands Downey’s Redhook

UK - Specialist leisure agency Restaurant Property landed Jonathan Downey’s surf and turf concept Redhook for a new restaurant at 89 Turnmill Street Farringdon, EC1. Situated on the former St Germain French brasserie Redhook is a stylish New York style steak and seafood 70-cover restaurant.

Downey’s Rushmore Group has taken a 25-year lease from a private landlord at £110,000 per year. The group also operates Milk & Honey, The Player, Trailer Happiness and Harlem and the two Match Bars in London. Downey is also looking for four further sites for his Robot bar concept.

Property-Magazine.eu 23rd July 2010

Roast takeaway to open at Westfield London

London restaurant Roast plans to roll out a fast-food version of the British dining concept, with the first site due to open at Westfield shopping centre later this year.

The Roast takeaway outlet will open at Westfield in September, marking the first of a planned group of outlets offering quality hot British food on the go. Roast, which opened the original 120-seat restaurant at Borough Market in 2005 and runs a food stall at the market, hopes to expand the take-away concept across London.

Founder Iqbal Wahhab told Caterersearch he had earmarked affluent high-streets, railway stations and shopping centres as potential locations. "If the site at Westfield proves as successful as we are expecting, we will be looking to open a minimum of three more in the next year," he said.

The food offer at the takeaway Roast will be overseen by Roast head chef Lawrence Keogh, who will develop the menu including breakfast and an all-day dining offer.

Dishes will include slow-roast pork belly with crackling and apple sauce in a bridge roll as well as roast meat sandwiches, pies, seasonal salads and vegetable sausages.

"We have expanded the Roast brand to cover more than a formal dining experience," Wahhab said. "What distinguishes us from most other hot take-away food offerings is that ours has the provenance of coming from a real restaurant with real chefs."

Mark Calder at Restaurant Property, the sole agents for Roast, secured the Westfield site, with interiors being designed by Cada, whose other clients include Pret A Manger, Itsu and New York’s Dean and Deluca.

CatererSearch.com 9th July 2010

Getting Out Of A Jam

Cross purposes Can London's busiest traffic snarl-up be transformed into a successful pedestrianised precinct? Mark Faithfull waits at the lights

Two years ago, Holborn earned the ignoble title of being labelled London's worst rat run. The London Evening Standard reported cabbies branding the intersection of Procter Street and Holborn the worst traffic jam in the capital. It is a label that has an unlikely supporter.

"The areas to the north and west of Holborn have been called the worst traffic jam in London, and we can't argue with that. We're fully aware that some of the roads are mayhem," says Tass Mavrogordato, chief executive of inholborn, the area's business improvement district…

So, while Holborn is at the heart of an ambitious retail and leisure vision for London Midtown, can it really overcome its proximity to the West End and the City, its heavy traffic and its lack of residents?

Where projects have begun to take shape in Midtown, the same single ownership has been at its heart - notably Legal & General's Central Saint Giles, a mixed-use scheme designed by architect Renzo Piano, at the area's western extremity.
By the summer, a major new piazza, delineated by a series of restaurants, will open at the development.

Jason Grant, senior partner at Restaurant Property, is part of the team advising Legal & General Property and Mitsubishi Estate on the restaurant destination. "It's the first new piazza in central London for a long time," he says, "and what has been crucial is that the restaurants have led the development in terms of creating an identity, instead of the office space being seen as king."

Grant expected most of the leases to have been finalised by the end of March and the scheme to open in July, with an emphasis on all-day trading and a mix of cuisines and price points. He reflects that this opportunity for restaurants to "cluster" is not readily available elsewhere in Midtown.

"Kingsway has always been a difficult patch for restaurants, despite the many tourists, students and office workers there," he says. "It has become a bit of a graveyard for many, as the wide, busy road seems to create something of a hostile environment."

Estates Gazette 3rd April 2010

Pizza Express sees market gap in Rochester

Pizza Express is to open a new restaurant in Rochester in Kent, after the chain decided the area was under-represented by mid-point national restaurant businesses.

The company is taking a 25-year lease on 1-23 High Street, Rochester from Aaron Paul Stone Investments.

Jason Grant, partner at Restaurant Property who advised Pizza Express, said: “This part of Kent is under-represented by mid-point national restaurant chains. Pizza Express is looking to gain a first move advantage by selecting a high profile site on the High Street, which is very close to all the major tourist amenities.”

CatererSearch.com 23rd February 2010

Anthony Demetre and Will Smith reveal details of third restaurant

Anthony Demetre and Will Smith, the pair behind the Michelin-starred Arbutus and Wild Honey, have confirmed the acquisition of a new site in Covent Garden, which will open as the pair’s third restaurant later this year.

The pair acquired the lease on the 5,000 sq ft property on William IV Street through specialist leisure agent Restaurant Property for an undisclosed sum, and are expected to start work renovating the building in the next couple of months.

David Rawlinson, director of Restaurant Property, said: “We knew that this was a great location but it seemed a particularly good omen for the deal when Will and Anthony won BMW Square Meal Restaurant Of The Year Award for Arbutus the morning of our viewing in early December. We exchanged just two weeks after this."

Smith, who has been searching for an opportunity to expand his and Demetre’s portfolio for two years, told BigHospitality the new restaurant would not be chasing any Michelin stars.

Arbutus, which the pair opened to critical acclaim in Soho in 2006, gained a Michelin star just months later. The pair’s second restaurant, Wild Honey, was also awarded a Michelin star within months of its opening in 2007.

Big Hospitality 5th February 2010

Sushi chain moves into Great Portland Street

Yo! Sushi has taken a 6,100 sq ft restaurant at 4 Great Portland Street, W1.The famous conveyor belt sushi chain has taken 2,400 sq ft at £55 per sq ft on the ground floor and 3,700 sq ft at £27.50 per sq ft in the basement on a 15-year lease from Langham Estates.

Yo! Sushi subsequently sublet 680 sq ft at £45 per sq ft on the ground floor and 2,700 sq ft at £22.50 per sq ft in the basement to Italian wine bar operator DEGÒ on a 15-year lease.

Mark Calder, surveyor at Restaurant Property, who advised Yo! Sushi, said: “This is a terrific central London site benefiting from seven days a week trade. The competition for the site was incredibly strong but after a lot of hard work all the planning and licensing issues were resolved last week."

EGI 3rd February 2010

Michelin-starred Pied a Terre owner David Moore looking to expand

David Moore, owner of the Michelin-starred Pied à Terre and L'Autre Pied restaurants in London, is looking to expand.

While it's still early days and nothing's been finalised Moore has confirmed he is on the look out for new sites.

"We're looking for opportunities in the current market but it's too early to say more than that," he says.

He has appointed property agents Restaurant Property to assist him in his search.

Earlier this year, Moore backed a new venture in Harrogate, north Yorkshire from Tom van Zeller, a former chef at the two Michelin-starred Pied à Terre.He has also been the resident front-of-house expert on Raymond Blanc's BBC2 series The Restaurant, which will return to our screens next month.

Caterer Search, Blog 18th August 2009

The Scoffer reports...THE RIVAL’S RETURN

Petrus is back – a year on from the bust-up between Gordon Ramsay and his one-time protégé Marcus Wareing.

The feud saw Ramsay take the Petrus brand away from the Berkeley Hotel, Knightsbridge, leaving Wareing to re-open it in his own name.  Next month, Ramsay opens a new Petrus.

And guess what – it’s just round the corner from the Berkeley.  “He found a property on Kinnerton Street with the help of Restaurant Property, a company specialising in high-end openings,” says a Ramsay mole.

Waitrose Food Illustrated July 2010

Hell's kitchen For Marcus As Old Foe Returns

Gordon Ramsay will be launching his new Petrus restaurant in September, having won the right to the name in a long legal battle with his former Protégé Marcus Wareing. The restaurant will be in Kinnerton Street, a short walk from the Berkeley where Wareing continues to cook in his now eponymous eaterie.

The venue was found for Ramsay by David Rawlinson of Restaurant Property, the agency which specialises in finding Michelin Star operators their new locations. Rawlinson has previously assisted Atul Kochar, Aussie Shane Osborn – who worked with both Ramsay and Wareing – to set up his 2 Michelin Star Pied a Terre restaurant in Charlotte Street.

Evening Standard 22nd June 2009