- The chef-owner of Michelin-starred Trinity, Adam Byatt, announced he will be opening Rosina, a new Italian-inspired restaurant in Wandsworth. Expected to open in the summer, the restaurant marks Byatt’s first neighbourhood project in over 10 years and his maiden venture into Italian cuisine. Named after his daughter, Rosie, the restaurant will include a main dining room, a stand-alone bar, a terrace, and a private dining room which will feature its own terrace. Open seven days a week, the space will seat 50 guests, with space for an additional 25 on the terrace, and the menu will focus on quality produce, wines, and recipes from across Italy, alongside ingredients sourced from the UK. Several of Byatt’s existing team members, from both the front and back of house, are set to join the restaurant, ‘keeping his characteristic neighbourhood style at the heart of this new opening’.
- Rosina isn’t the only restaurant iteration of the popular flower announced this week; Spencer Metzger has revealed that he will be opening French bistro Chez Rose on Mayfair’s Pollen Street in partnership with Jason Atherton. The chef is taking over the former Little Social site, which is part of Atherton’s restaurant group, for the opening set to take place on the 1 June. Chez Rose, named in honour of Metzger’s grandmother, will be a casual yet upscale French bistro that draws on Metzger’s time spent cooking classical French food at The Ritz as well as his love for eating in France. The restaurant’s food offer will be ‘super seasonal’, and it will also have ‘a great wine list’, and the space will seat around 46 covers inside as well as some additional outside seating. Metzger, who is executive chef at Mayfair restaurant Row on 5, which he opened in partnership with Atherton, will cook at the restaurant when Row on 5 isn’t open for service, with head chef duties at Chez Rose going to Mark Catchpole, previously senior sous chef at Roganic in Hong Kong.
- The fast-food and casual dining restaurant sectors are beginning to buckle under the pressure of the current climate, having seen their steepest decline in consumer traffic for two years in the first quarter of 2026. New data from market intelligence provider Meaningful Vision showed footfall fell 2.3% across the more than 60,000 outlets the company monitors between January and March. The research also showed pub and restaurant traffic had declined from 7.6% during the quarter following a 6.9% decrease in 2025, and the typically resilient fast-food sector recorded a 1.2% fall, compared to 1% growth during the same period last year - only chicken shops (6.2%) and ethnic food stores (3.5%) experienced an increase in customers. Only the South East (2.7%), Greater London (4.1%), and the South West (15.9%) saw a rise in footfall during January to March. By contrast, London saw a 5.8% decline in customer traffic, and its share of the total market shrunk by 0.8% – the highest of any region. Meaningful Vision’s analysis indicated prices in restaurants rose by up to 8% - 2.3% higher than a year ago. This accelerated in February and March after three months of stable inflation, with increases across all categories. Amid these conditions, fast food and casual dining chains have slowed their expansion plans, with outlet growth more than halving from 2.4% in the third quarter of 2025 to 1.1%.
- The Real Greek will continue to have a presence on UK high streets after the Karali Group, which also operates the Côte Brasserie chain, agreed to buy 19 of the chain’s 28 restaurants in a rescue deal that saves 358 out of 509 jobs. Nine sites - including locations in Spitalfields, Westfield London, Dulwich Village, Bristol, Strand, Solihull, Gloucester Quays, Glasgow and Edinburgh - will close, resulting in 151 job losses. Fulham Shore chief executive Marcel Khan said the deal puts the business on a ‘more sustainable footing for the future’ while allowing the company to focus on expanding Franco Manca. Paul Berkovi, managing director at administrators Alvarez & Marsal, said the firm had worked with The Real Greek’s management team to complete a transaction securing the future of the restaurant group. He said the administrators’ immediate focus would be ensuring a smooth transition for the business and supporting employees affected by site closures.
- Dan Smith, the chef behind the Michelin-starred Fordwich Arms in Kent, is teaming up with his former sommelier Elliott Ashton-Konig to open a wine bar and restaurant in Whitstable. Opening on Harbour Street in June, Keller will be led in the kitchen by fellow Fordwich Arms alumnus Ollie Clifford-Cox, most recently of two Michelin-starred Hide and Fox in Kent. Keller will be a relaxed restaurant serving a produce-led menu cooked over a charcoal-fired Bertha oven. Dishes will include rarebit croquettes; roasted scallops with vadouvan spices; beef tartare with shoestring fries and gherkin ketchup; red mullet with braised fennel and Noilly Prat sauce; rump of lamb with merguez, tomato and goat’s curd; and a brown sugar custard tart with crème fraîche ice cream Locally caught oysters and seafood will also be available. Ashton-Konig, who previously oversaw the wine programmes at both The Fordwich Arms and The Bridge Arms and most recently worked at the two-Michelin-starred Da Terra in Bethnal Green, is putting together a wine list that balances Old and New World bottles alongside standout producers from Kent and surrounding counties.