Neat chooses Oxo Tower for London opening

British chef Richard Neat, owner of the Michelin-starred Neat restaurant in the south of France, is opening a second restaurant, in London.

He has signed a 20-year lease for the 9,000sq ft space on the second floor of the Oxo Tower Wharf, through his company Neat (London), for an undisclosed sum.

It was previously a restaurant named Bistrot 2,run by Simpsons of Cornhill.

The restaurant closed in August 1999 and the space has been vacant since then.

In August 1997 Simpsons of Cornhill was bought by camping company Eurocam.

The restaurant and bar will also be called Neat. It is due to open in the spring. Neat believes it will complement the Oxo Tower restaurant on the rooftop of the building.

Neat will keep his Cannes restaurant, which opened in summer 1999, and his home in France.

He plans to divide his time between the two restaurants.

Neat notched up two Michelin stars in 1996, aged just 26, at his former London restaurant Pied à Terre.

He then went to India to work for the Taj group of hotels, before setting up in France.