The first will open in the French capital’s famed Le Marais neighbourhood next summer, with a second, at an as yet undisclosed location, expected to follow towards the end of 2027.
Bancone co-founder David Ramsey told Restaurant that leases for both sites have already been signed. The restaurants will be company-owned.
Ramsey says his familiarity with Paris makes it a more attractive prospect than expanding into the UK regions at the moment. “I like being brave. It’s boring not being brave. Fortune favours the bold,” he says.
He previously worked in the French capital for up to three days a week while working in the luxury goods sector, commuting from London by Eurostar.
I speak French well enough, which helps,” he continues. “And my wife was a chef at Septime (one of the city’s most influential restaurants). She knows the Paris restaurant scene really well. She doesn’t work with us, but I do listen to her. I also have a house in France and live there two or three months of the year.
“The thing I love about the French is that they love good food. I honestly don’t know whether Bancone will work in, say, Leeds. I’m much more confident it will work in Paris. I know they are going to love the food.”
Ramsey says Paris is also quicker to reach from London than many UK regional cities.
“Will and I understand London. We are both London born and bred, which is quite unusual,” he says, referring to fellow co-founder William Ellner. “I don’t pretend to know the restaurant market in places like Bristol, Manchester and Leeds. There is the potential for us to make a big mistake in those cities.”
Ramsey has also revealed plans to open an as yet unnamed wet-led pub and bar concept at the Old Compton Street site previously home to Cecconi’s Pizza Bar. It could launch in as little as two months.
Speaking to Restaurant yesterday (13 October), Ramsey said he expected to complete on the lease the following day. The concept will draw on his memories of Soho growing up in London.
“When I was 12, my parents said they had had enough of taking me to school and that I was big enough to go on my own. They gave me the house keys and the bus pass: just don’t go to Soho. Obviously, I went to Soho,” he says.
“I loved it. I was excited and disturbed and thrown off balance. It’s fucking great. But that Soho is largely gone. Soho used to be the place you went to get fucked or fucked up. I want to bring that back.”
The Soho project will join The Hero’s Return, Ramsey’s forthcoming pub and dining room at Battersea Power Station, which is now expected to launch towards the end of the year.
Announced in July, The Hero’s Return is a collaboration between Ramsey, Jason Myers and former St John chef director Jonathon Woolway. Woolway will lead the kitchen, serving seasonal British dishes.
The pub takes its name from a Pink Floyd track and will include a 40-cover riverside terrace.
Bancone itself – which Ramsey runs with Ellner - is on course to open three London restaurants this year. Its City site launched earlier in the year, followed in August by Bancone Bloomsbury at The Imperial hotel. The latter is the group’s largest restaurant to date , with 140 indoor covers and a further 60 on its terrace, and brought its estate to six sites.
A seventh restaurant is expected to open towards the end of the year within the former Debenhams building on Oxford Street.
The site forms part of The M Building development at 334 Oxford Street, where French brasserie group La Nouvelle Garde is also preparing to open its second London restaurant, with a spring 2027 launch expected.
Overall, these three large new Bancone openings will double the size of the business in terms of covers.