Torode to team up with Hopson Jones brothers

John Torode, a former senior chef with Terence Conran, is sinking £2.4m into opening a bar-restaurant in London's Smithfield.

Torode is launching "Smiths" with partners Angus and Stuart Hopson Jones, the brothers who own the Polygon Bar and Grill in Clapham. Smiths is due to open on 1 December.

The two bars and two restaurants will be on three separate floors of the Grade II-listed building opposite Smithfield market, while a separately owned night-club will be in thebasement.

The ground floor, said Torode, would be a "greasy spoon" serving the likes of toast, jams, baked beans and old spot bacon. It will also have a bar.

On the second floor there will be a 120-seat restaurant where main courses such as seared tuna, white beans and sausages, will cost about £10.

The third floor will house a 60-seat fine-dining restaurant where Torode will cook. It will be his first foray into the kitchen since parting company with Conran in November last year. He had been working at Bluebird after leaving Mezzo.