Gulliver's travails

Building has finally started at Trevor Gulliver's new restaurant site in Putney, London, following a number of false starts.

The project was delayed first by archaeological studies and then by the need to build a cofferdam to help its construction. If the main building programme now goes to plan, the restaurant should open next February.

Mr Gulliver has private backing for the £2.5m project, which will span 10,000 sq ft over three floors. The first-floor restaurant will have 150 seats, while a ground floor bar and terrace will have further seating for about the same number.

"This is one of the last important riverside locations in central London," said Mr Gulliver. "Operationally and in terms of architecture and design it is a marvellous opportunity and we must do justice to that."

The restaurant will be called Putney Bridge, after the landmark it will be built next to. Like the Fire Station at Waterloo and St John in Smithfield, two of Mr Gulliver's earlier restaurant projects, the site had lain fallow for years.