- Raising Cane’s, the third largest fried chicken brand in the US by sales, has confirmed it will launch its first London site next year, with further openings planned. The group, which is famous for its crispy chicken fingers that are marinated for 24 hours and hand breaded, and its house-made dipping sauce, will take over the former Angus Steakhouse restaurant between Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square on Coventry Street. Set to launch in late 2026, the flagship site will mark the fast food brand’s first foray into Europe.
- Clare Smyth is opening a second restaurant in London later this year in Chelsea. The chef-patron of three Michelin-starred Core By Clare Smyth in Notting Hill will open luxury bistro Corenucopia By Clare Smyth in November. The new restaurant will occupy the site that was previously Tabisca Italian steakhouse on Holbein Place. Further details of the new restaurant are yet to be revealed, and the restaurant is currently recruiting staff.
- Former Launceston Place chef Ben Murphy will lead the kitchen at WSH Restaurant’s soon to launch new project within the former site of Mere in London’s Fitzrovia. 74 Charlotte Street by Ben Murphy will be ambitious and top-end but will be positioned more casually than the Kensington restaurant within which the former Pierre Koffmann chef made his name. Restaurant understands that the lease of the 74 Charlotte Street site is held by Alastair Storey, a key backer of chef Monica Galetti’s Mere - which closed in 2024.
- Chick-fil-A’s recently established central London head office has been picketed over the US fast-food giant’s alleged ‘long record of funding anti-LGBT+ causes’. The Peter Tatchell Foundation says its campaigners targeted Chick-fil-A’s Holborn offices on 3 September to deliver a letter to Joanna Symonds, head of operations for the UK. The letter calls on Chick-fil-A - which is in the midst of having another crack at the UK market - to answer questions relating to its funding of US-based organisations that allegedly lobby against LGBT+ equality.
- Gordon Ramsay is expected to relaunch his Hell’s Kitchen brand in the UK next year with both a TV series and restaurant openings mooted. According to The Sun, ITV bosses entered talks with Ramsay’s team last year about reviving the reality cooking show, which first aired in the UK back in 2004. Ramsay has reportedly also trademarked the Hell’s Kitchen name in the UK so it can be used in restaurants, which could open immediately after the show reboots on ITV.