- Former The Hand and Flowers head chef Tom De Keyser is to oversee the relaunch of Tom Kerridge’s soon to shutter The Butcher’s Tap & Grill in Chelsea. Billed as a sister pub to Kerridge’s Marlow flagship The Hand and Flowers - which holds two Michelin stars - The Chalk Freehouse will ‘commemorate the beauty of traditional British gastropub dining’ when it launches mid next month. The name references the area’s maritime heritage, where chalk and limestone were once unloaded. The new pub will offer a three-course menu at both lunch and dinner made up of ‘refined, yet humble’ dishes. It comes after The Tom Kerridge Group announced late last week that The Butcher’s Tap Chelsea was closing after just two years’ trading because the increasing costs of running the pub had not been matched by a rise in revenue and turnover.
- Fried chicken brand Chick ‘N Sours has announced the closure of its two London restaurants after more than a decade of trading. The group’s restaurants in Haggerston, which opened in 2015, and in Seven Dials, which opened in 2016, are now closed, with Sunday (25 June) the last day that they traded. Its recently opened site in food hall Corner Corner will, however, remain open, and the brand will be present at festivals with its food truck. In a post on Instagram, co-founder David Wolanski described the current trading situation as not viable, and said the casual dining model is ‘broken’. “We do what we do because we love it fuelled by passion and a desire to provide guests with awesome food and memorable dining experiences. But that’s not enough these days,” Wolanski wrote in the post.
- Ryan Jacovides, the restaurateur behind Margate’s acclaimed Pomus and its seaside sibling Pom on The Pier, is expanding his Kent footprint with a new opening in Folkestone this summer. Set to launch on Tontine Street in the heart of Folkestone’s Creative Quarter, Pomus Folkestone will take over the former Brewery Tap pub site. The kitchen will be led by Keiran Golding, a Kent-based chef whose CV includes The Blue Pigeons, Wyatt & Jones, and No.9 at Chapel House Estate, alongside time spent under Gordon Ramsay in London.
- McWin Capital Partners has teamed up with fellow private equity investor TriSpan to potentially buy a large stake in Flat Iron. The pair are reportedly in ‘exclusive talks’ to acquire Flat Iron, with a deal possible in approximately a month’s time. Industry sources told Sky News that McWin, which already counts Sticks’n’Sushi, Big Mamma and Gail’s in its hospitality portfolio, would probably take the largest economic interest in Flat Iron if the deal completes.
- Peter Sanchez-Iglesias has shuttered his Paco Tapas restaurant in Bristol after nearly a decade. The closure means the high-profile chef no longer has a presence within the city he made his name. No reason has been given for the decision, but the Harbourside venture is understood to be yet another casualty of the increasingly tough trading environment faced by restaurants. “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Paco Tapas is closing with immediate effect,” read a statement posted from Sanchez-Iglesias and his parents Paco, who the high-end Spanish restaurant is named after, and Sue. “This decision has not come easily, and it marks the end of a chapter filled with incredible memories, dedicated teamwork, and the joy of sharing our passion for Spanish food and hospitality with all of you.”