- Newly formed hospitality business Common Table Group has announced plans to acquire 57 former Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Cookhouse restaurants from Whitbread. The deal, for an undisclosed sum, also includes one Premier Inn hotel and will create 700 new hospitality jobs, in addition to team members transferring from Whitbread. Common Table Group plans to invest in refurbishing the restaurants, developing its people and creating new menus, with the sites retaining their restaurant focus and offering all-day food and drink for hotel guests alongside a speciality barista coffee offer from sister company Rodeo Group. The business aims to have all sites fully trading again as soon as possible, with the first restaurants due to relaunch from mid-November 2026.
- James Martin’s restaurant at Manchester235 has closed after 14 years following the conclusion of the partnership between the high-profile chef and casino operator Metropolitan Gaming. The operator said the collaboration, which began in 2012, had been a ‘successful and valued’ one, with the restaurant becoming an established part of the Manchester235 experience. Metropolitan Gaming said it remained committed to the venue, with further details on its future food and beverage offering to be announced in due course. Employees affected by the closure have been retained within the Manchester235 business, while customers with existing reservations will be contacted and outstanding gift card balances will be refunded.
- James Bond actor Daniel Craig has joined forces with hospitality operators Charlie Carroll and Nick Jones to take over The Horseshoe pub in Clerkenwell, alongside Justin O’Shea, creative director of beer brand Bad Belze. Carroll, founder of steakhouse business Flat Iron and co-owner of Soho pub The Devonshire, will oversee the food offering, with the ground floor serving bar snacks and a first-floor restaurant offering a more extensive menu. The pub, which features a series of upstairs rooms and a beer garden, will mark the first pub venture for both Craig and Jones.
- Ruth Hansom, chef-owner of Hansom Restaurant, has been named the UK’s National Chef of the Year by the Craft Guild of Chefs, becoming the first woman to win the title in the competition’s more than 50-year history. Announced following the final at Le Cordon Bleu London on 6 October, her winning menu, created around the theme ‘Our Sustainable Future’, featured Isle of Mull scallop, Angus beef fillet with braised cheek cottage pie and Guanaja dark chocolate with foraged bramble mille feuille. The judging panel was chaired by Moor Hall chef patron Mark Birchall, with Cherish Finden serving as chair of pastry.
- Troia UK Restaurants, the Richard Caring-chaired company that operates The Ivy Collection, increased revenue by 5.6% to £348m in the 52 weeks to 4 January 2026, up from £327.1m a year earlier. Adjusted EBITDA rose 6.5% to £65.9m, compared with £61.9m in the prior year, while gross profit margin improved from 79% to 80% and labour costs as a proportion of sales fell from 40% to 38%. The group attributed its performance to strong trading, new site openings and operational improvements, which helped offset rising industry costs, including higher National Insurance contributions and increases to the National Minimum Wage.