Retired restaurants are being brought back to life, alongside vibrant new sites opening their doors across the UK
Though 2024 is undoubtedly going to be a year of exciting restaurant openings, the news of many is just starting to emerge. Jeremy King has promised us multiple openings this year, while chefs such as Tom Barnes and Ruth Hansom are stepping out by themselves.
Find the full list of 2024 restaurant openings below.
Scroll down to find the most exciting 2024 restaurant openings
Hansom
Location Bedale, North Yorkshire
Opening February
Ruth Hansom is to open modern British restaurant and wine bar Hansom. The former Young National Chef of the Year and her husband Mark Hansom-Rigby have taken the lease on a Grade II-listed property where the chef couple will serve a seven-course tasting menu in the 16-cover ground floor restaurant. The first floor will be occupied by a wine bar serving small plates for around 30 covers.
Skof
Location Manchester
Opening Spring
Tom Barnes, Roux scholar and former senior Simon Rogan Group chef is to open his first restaurant. Skof will launch within the terracotta-tiled Hanover building and serve dishes designed by the chef to remove some of the "seriousness" associated with tasting menu restaurants. It will form part of the next iteration of Rogan's Umbel restaurants, which will see the group support talented individuals to open their own businesses.
Boxpark
Location Liverpool
Opening Spring
Shipping container mall concept Boxpark will open its first food hall and events space in Liverpool. The 21,000 sq ft venue will feature 10 kitchen units, three internal bars and an outdoor garden area. There will be space for 400 internal covers and 200 outdoor seats.
The Garden
Location Cobham, Surrey
Opening Spring
Ashley Palmer-Watts, who spent 20 years working at Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck Group, will launch a multi-faceted project incorporating a 35-cover high-end restaurant, a 52-seat wine bar, a café and a bakery, all set around a courtyard. There are plans to open luxury guest accommodation and the outside space is being redeveloped with an extensive kitchen garden.
Psycho Sandbar
Location Leeds
Opening Early 2024
Michael O'Hare has closed his Michelin-starred Leeds restaurant, the Man Behind the Curtain, and will relaunch it after a refit taking place in January. New concept Psycho Sandbar is set to be a "fish-heavy" restaurant with a "surf shack" feel and brutalist design. It is designed to be more accessible to guests, with dishes set to include grilled fish, pitta breads with plankton, Champagne and cocktails.
Unnamed Des Gunewardena project
Location City of London
Opening May
Former D&D London chief executive Des Gunewardena is to open a flagship restaurant, bar and event space in London's Royal Exchange building. He has taken a 15-year lease on a 6,500 sq ft space, which will host live music and entertainment. It will be the first restaurant opening for Gunewardena since he left D&D London in 2022, 16 years after co-founding the group with David Loewi.
Restaurant Story
Location Bermondsey, London
Opening 12 January Tom Sellers' two-Michelin-starred Restaurant Story in London is set to reopen on 12 January. The site, a former Victorian public toilet block, closed in February 2023 for an extensive refurbishment, including the construction of an outdoor balcony on the upper level and an intimate lounge area seating up to eight guests. An open kitchen surrounded by a large table for 14 diners has also been added.
Mimosa
Location Langham London
Opening 2024
The debut UK restaurant from French chef Jean-François Piège is to open at the Langham London hotel. It will be the first international outpost of Mimosa, the Riviera-inspired restaurant from the Moma Group, and replace Michelin Roux's Roux at the Landau, which closed during the pandemic.
Unnamed Stevie Parle project
Location West End, London
Opening Summer
Stevie Parle has revealed plans to open a new London restaurant by this summer. Details have been kept under wraps, but the chef said he has partnered with farmers and growers across the country to source produce for the "big new restaurant", and was excited to "fire up the wood ovens".
Mildreds
Location Wimbledon and Victoria, London
Plant-based restaurant Mildreds will open two new London sites after securing multimillion-pound funding from investors Encore Capital. A 100-cover restaurant will open in a Grade II-listed fire station in Wimbledon in early 2024 and include new plant-based bakery concept, Mima. There are also plans for a 120-cover all-day restaurant in Victoria.
Josephine
Location Fulham Road, London
Opening January
Chef Claude Bosi and his wife Lucy are to open a French bistro. The 76-cover site will be inspired by the traditional bouchons found in Claude's hometown of Lyon in France and serve a menu based on the French regional classics his grandmother Josephine used to cook for him. Will Smith, formerly of Arbutus and Wild Honey, will return to London to run the restaurant as general manager.
July
Location Charlotte Street, London
Opening Spring
Holly Hayes, former sous chef at 40 Maltby Street, is to head up the kitchen at Fitzrovia bar and restaurant July. Dishes will include sandwiches and stews for lunch, small and large seasonal plates at dinner, and a whole chicken to share at the weekend. A range of low-intervention wines from small European producers will be curated by sommelier Honey Spencer. July has been created by food writer Solynka Dumas and co-founder Julian Oschmann.
Coal Shed
Location Brighton
Opening Spring
Brighton's acclaimed Coal Shed restaurant is to relocate to a larger venue in the city. The steak and seafood restaurant, which was launched in 2011 by Raz Helalat, will reopen in a larger 142-cover site on Brighton's North Street with three private dining spaces for up to 60 guests, an open fire kitchen, an ageing room for meats and a bar area.
Multiple Jeremy King projects
Location London
Esteemed restaurateur Jeremy King is hoping to launch up to three London restaurants this year. He has taken on the former Le Caprice restaurant site, which will reopen as Arlington this spring, and will also open the Park in the Park Modern building, which will draw inspiration from the grand cafés and brasseries of Europe. Finally, King has partnered with the Savoy hotel to relaunch Simpson's in the Strand, one of London's oldest restaurants, to "bring it fully into the 21st century".
Julie's
Location Holland Park, London
Opening Spring
Celebrity haunt Julie's is to reopen under chef patron Owen Kenworthy, who previously headed the kitchen at the acclaimed Brawn in Bethnal Green and the Pelican pub in Notting Hill. His menu will showcase classic French regional dishes made with top-quality produce. Julie's closed in December 2022 after 53 years of trading and was sold to Cordon Bleu-trained chef Tara MacBain.
Kricket
Location Canary Wharf, London
Opening Spring
Indian restaurant group Kricket has secured a fresh round of funding from investor White Rabbit Projects to open a fourth London restaurant. The new 85-cover restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and will be situated next to the group's second cocktail bar, Soma, which originally launched in Soho 2021.
Multiple Akira Back projects
Location Mayfair, London
Opening Early 2024
Korean-American chef and former professional snowboarder Akira Back is set to oversee four concepts at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair when it opens early this year. This will include the first UK outpost of his Michelin-starred Seoul-based restaurant Dosa, which will be a 14-seat chef's table serving contemporary Korean dishes. Akira Back will be a 148-cover Japanese restaurant, while the chef will also run cocktail bar ABar Lounge and the ABar Rooftop experience.
