Restaurant round-up
Teddington launch for Ray Neve
Former Mosimann's head chef Ray Neve has opened a new 180-seater restaurant in Teddington, Middlesex.
The riverside restaurant, named the Wharf, is housed in a converted boathouse overlooking Teddington Lock and the Thames. According to Neve, the menu is "an eclectic selection of dishes from places I've visited, basically modern European cuisine with some Asian flavours".
Neve, 42, was a winner of the first Acorn Awards in 1987, along with Marco Pierre White and John Burton-Race, while working under Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester. He went on to work as head chef at Mosimann's, leaving in 1994.
Since then he has run the kitchens at, among others, the Bankers' Club in Kuala Lumpur and Aquasia at the Conrad International hotel in London's Chelsea Harbour. Most recently, he returned to Mosimann's to oversee kitchen operations.
Plans for Ma Potters
Restaurant group Ma Potters has announced a £4.5m plan to expand the company to more than 20 restaurants by 2004.
Three MA Potters, the company's brand of bar-restaurants aimed at younger customers, will open in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Brighton by the end of June this year. A further three sites are planned by the year's end, while Ma Potters' family restaurants in Nottingham and Reading are to be rebranded as MA Potters.
The group, which currently owns 11 restaurants, said the expansion programme will create at least 500 jobs.
Oldest inn in Wales
Wales's oldest pub, the Skirrid Mountain inn, has been sold by Heather Grant to Daryl Hardy and Marian Appleton from Kendall in Cumbria. The asking price for the 18-year lease was £85,000. The 12th-century three-bedroom inn in the Brecon Beacons National Park was also a courthouse for "Hanging Judge" Jeffreys in the 17th century, and 180 people were said to have been hanged from its stairwell beam. The sale was handled by Christie & Co.
Favorits sale
Scottish bar and restaurant chain owner Montpeliers has sold its two Favorit café-bars, in Edinburgh's Leven Street and Tevoit Place, for £425,000 to Edinburgh businessman Dave Clark. The company said the bars were "out of step" with the rest of its portfolio.
Room in Leeds
A new restaurant group with plans to expand across the North of England has opened its first in Leeds. The 118-seat Room restaurant is director John Pallagi's first venture as a restaurateur and has been developed from listed offices in Bond House, off Boar Lane. Joining Pallagi is chef Chris Tolson, previously at the Harvey Nichols Fourth Floor restaurant.
Oxford pub
Kirtlington village pub, the Oxford Arms, has been sold through Christie & Co to Bryn and Rod Jones of Gourmet Village Inns, previously operators of an Oxford pizza restaurant. The stone-built village inn has been recently refurbished and the property includes three-bedroom owners' accommodation, trade garden and car park. Anthony Auty, who owned the lease for three-and-a-half years, was asking £125,000.
