James McAllister

3 days ago | restaurantonline.co.uk | James McAllister

As reported by City AM, M Threadneedle Street will close its doors next week. It comes after M founder Martin Williams stepped down as CEO of Rare Restaurants last year and has subsequently joined The Evolv Collection – formerly D&D London – as chief executive. City AM understands that Rare Restaurants’s new CEO, Baton Berisha, who joined in March, is focused on growing the core Gaucho brand. There is speculation that a rent review on the Threadneedle Street premises also influenced the decision.

4 days ago | restaurantonline.co.uk | James McAllister

The husband-and-wife team have taken over the Aubaine site on the corner of Moxon Street and Cramer Street for a restaurant that will bring together their three concepts – restaurants Kudu and Kudu Grill, and private dining and events space Curious Kudu – under one roof. Announcing the move on Instagram, the pair said: “We are beyond excited to officially announce that after eight wonderful years in Peckham, the Kudu sites will be relocating to a new home in Marylebone this September.

1 week ago | restaurantonline.co.uk | James McAllister

Simon Wilkinson, board director and operating partner for TGI Fridays and the Evolv Collection (formerly D&D London), which are both owned by Breal and Calveton, wrote on LinkedIn that under the leadership of CEO Julie McEwan the TGI team are ‘working their socks off to revert the decline of the group and reposition the brand’. Describing it as ‘the comeback of all comebacks’, the relaunch will be unveiled on 4 July to coincide with Independence Day in the US.

1 week ago | restaurantonline.co.uk | James McAllister

Permit Room Portobello will open its doors tomorrow (9 May) in Notting Hill. The group confirmed back in January that it had taken over the four storey Victorian property that was previously occupied by the Portobello Gin Distillery for its first Permit Room location in the capital. Inspired in part by the early hotels of Bombay, Permit Room Lodgings will welcome its first guests in June 2025, with the two-bedroom residence housed on the top floor of the Portobello Road property.

1 week ago | restaurantonline.co.uk | James McAllister

In an Instagram Stories post, the London-based chef revealed that Straker’s, which he opened on Golborne Road in 2022, had experienced a fire in its kitchen extraction system on Saturday night (3 May), causing damage to the rear of the restaurant. “We’re still investigating the cause of the fire and expect to have more clarity by the end of the week,” he said.