Hong Kong-based restaurant group Aqua to enter the UK

Hong Kong-based restaurant group Aqua is to enter the UK market this autumn with the launch of two restaurants atop the former Dickins & Jones department store on Regent Street.

The company currently operates eight high-end restaurants in Hong Kong as well as a new outlet in the Chinese capital of Beijing.

Aqua will operate two restaurants at the site, which comprises around 15,000 sq ft with corner roof terraces, including a Japanese and a modern European outlet.

Davis Coffer Lyons and Cushman & Wakefield brokered the deal.

The former Dickins & Jones flagship store closed in January 2006 after high rents made it unprofitable. Redevelopment work started later that year although signs displaying Dickins & Jones continue to be displayed.

Once reopened in the autumn, the building will have a glass extension with terraces where Aqua's restaurants will be housed.

The first, ground and basement levels will be split to house high street fashion retailer H&M and mobile phone company Nokia.

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By Kerstin Kühn

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