Turner to cook at Millennium hotel

Brian Turner is to open a new restaurant in London's Millennium Hotel Mayfair next year, 18 months after the closure of Turner's, the Knightsbridge restaurant run by the chef for 15 years.

Turner will also oversee all of the 348-bedroom hotel's food and beverage operations, including room service, private dining and banqueting.

"The restaurant will have a really nice atmosphere and will concentrate on serving good, honest, simple food. We will not be working towards Michelin stars," said Turner.

Tony Potter, chief operating officer of Millennium & Copthorne Hotels, said the deal will help reposition the property as a great Mayfair hotel. "Although the hotel is situated in an excellent location on Grosvenor Square, we needed something else to make it special and different."

The existing hotel restaurant will close after Christmas and reopen in March or April.

Turner will oversee the writing of all menus for the restaurant and other areas of the hotel. Executive chef Paul Bates, who joined the Millennium Hotel Mayfair from the Millennium Hotel Knightsbridge last year, will be cooking on a day-to-day basis.