- BrewDog has been sold to US pharmaceutical giant Tilray for £33m through a pre-pack administration, a sharp drop from its previous $2bn valuation. The deal includes BrewDog’s global brand, related intellectual property and UK brewing operations, along with 11 ‘profitable’ bars in Birmingham, Canary Wharf, Dogtap Ellon, Dublin, Edinburgh DogHouse, Lothian Road, Manchester, Paddington, Seven Dials, Tower Hill and Waterloo. Joint administrator AlixPartners said no buyer offered to acquire the entire business, and 38 UK BrewDog bars closed immediately, leading to nearly 500 job losses, as a result of the sale to Tilray. Equity holders in the brewing business will also not receive a return on their investments. BrewDog’s 18 franchise bars in the UK and internationally continue to operate as normal.
- Phil Winser, James Gummer and Olivier van Themsche, the trio behind Public House Group, have opened Italian restaurant CeCe’s in Notting Hill. Located on Clarendon Road, the two-floor venue serves classic Italian dishes with a ‘hint of Hollywood’, including aubergine parmigiana, bream carpaccio with caviar and bistecca alla Fiorentina. The restaurant also offers a wide-ranging wine list featuring Italian bottles alongside Burgundy, Bordeaux and wines from across Europe and the US, with low lighting and table lamps creating an elegant, old-school atmosphere.
- London department store Harrods is facing legal action after a group of workers alleged that a £1 ‘cover charge’ added to its restaurant bills is not being distributed to staff. Backed by the union United Voices of the World, 29 employees argue the fee effectively functions like a service charge and should therefore be distributed to workers under UK tipping rules. Harrods denies the claim, saying the cover charge supports the costs of ‘providing the high-quality offering’ of its restaurants and is separate from the discretionary 12.5% service charge paid to recognise staff service.
- The team behind Freight Island are launching a open-air food, drink and music venue called Freight Brixton this May. With a capacity of around 1,000 people, the rooftop destination will feature rotating chef residencies, cocktail bars and a programme of music, sports screenings and community events throughout spring and summer. Located near Brixton Station and Brixton Village Market, the venue will host festival-style food takeovers such as Taco Fest and Bite Twice presents Dine Hard, alongside brunch concepts and speciality bars including the Casamigos House of Friends and Hotel Milano.
- Gordon Ramsay is set to open his first UK fine dining restaurant outside London in over 20 years at Fairmont Cheshire, The Mere, this summer. The new venue, Gordon Ramsay at The Mere, will become the hotel’s signature dining destination following a major multi-million-pound refurbishment and expansion of the property. The restaurant will feature flavour-led cuisine with a concept developed specifically for the setting of the Cheshire resort. The opening marks Ramsay’s return to fine dining outside London since Amaryllis, which operated at One Devonshire Gardens from 2001 to 2004.