- The Ritz in London has been named the Best Restaurant in the UK 2025 at this year’s National Restaurant Awards. Led by veteran chef John Williams MBE, the restaurant has finally climbed to the top of the prestigious UK Top 100 Restaurants list having been a regular on it for many years.
- US brand Dave’s Hot Chicken will launch sites in Birmingham and Manchester in the coming weeks following the success of its debut UK restaurant on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue. Set to launch in three weeks’ time, Dave’s Hot Chicken Birmingham will take over a site on New Street previously operated by ASK Italian, another Azzurri brand. An site in Manchester is due to open three weeks after that.
- Pret A Manger is to trial a new shop format featuring a more spacious environment and made-to-order food and drink service under regional expansion plans to target a broader customer base. The new format will be unveiled across two sites in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, and Maidenhead this month with Pret saying it sets the tone for its proposition in towns and smaller cities outside of London and forms part of the business’ strategy to reach new customers.
- Karen’s Diner, the Australia-founded restaurant group known for its rude service and staff with attitude, is set to close its final UK site at the end of the month. The group’s restaurant in London’s Islington will close at the end of June following a decision not to renew its lease on the site due to an increase in fixed costs, including business rates.
- Nancy Silverton’s London branch of her celebrated LA pizza restaurant Pizzeria Mozza has closed after nearly four years. The restaurant, which opened in summer of 2021 within Treehouse Hotel London on Langham Place, is listed as permanently closed on Google and is no longer taking reservations online.