Exclusive: Evolv signs star chef as part of ambitious plans February 19, 2026 The Evolv Collection, one of the country’s biggest high-end restaurant groups in the country, has continued its ambitious growth plans with the appointment of highly rated chef Miller Prada as group culinary consultant. With almost 20 years of experience in kitchens including The Ledbury, Pollen Street Social and Endo at the Rotunda, Miller is best [...]
Surinder Arora: Hotels should not be excluded from tax relief February 19, 2026 Hotel tycoon Surinder Arora has said he “fails to see” why the government has offered emergency tax support only to pubs, as hotels battle with “unprecedented” business rate hikes. This comes after Wednesday’s Consumer Prices Index (CPI) figures revealed that hotels and restaurants are facing far quicker price rises than the headline inflation rate. The [...]
Victor Garvey’s mad new MATER1A concept is a Willy Wonka-esque theatre of gastronomy February 18, 2026 MATER1A, 115 Westbourne Grove, W2 4UP | ★★★★★ | Cuisine: Japanese, fine dining, tasting menu A benefit of having written restaurant reviews for 15 years is that you begin to see the overarching warp and weft of the business, the trends that slowly emerge and dissipate, the way hospitality gradually evolves, holding up a mirror [...]
Annabel’s profit trebles as Mayfair club defies hospitality gloom February 16, 2026 One of London’s best-known private members clubs has shrugged off wider hospitality gloom after posting a near-tripling of profit. Mayfair-based Annabel’s, which has been based on Berkeley Square since the 1960s, toasted a pre-tax profit of £12.4m in the year to January 2025, a rise of 184 per cent on the previous year. Revenue over [...]
Greene King weighs job cuts as pub sector braces for cost squeeze February 15, 2026 Greene King is preparing to cut around 100 roles as Britain’s second-largest pub operator reviews its cost base against a backdrop of rising taxes and mounting pressure across the hospitality sector. The brewer and pub group, which operates roughly 2,600 sites across the UK, is understood to be assessing changes to its head office and [...]
Why London bakers obsess over this Michelin starred restaurant February 13, 2026 Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal has maintained his second Michelin star for his on-trend style of decorative cooking, says Adam Bloodworth It is dinnertime at Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal, although you wouldn’t think it from looking at the plates. The food, at quick glance, presents more like fine patisserie. Most dishes are [...]
Angela Rayner and Andy Burnham criticise pub tax raid February 12, 2026 Two prominent potential leadership challengers to Sir Keir Starmer have attacked the government’s tax regime for putting hospitality businesses, and particularly pubs, under serious pressure. Angela Rayner acknowledged that the hike to the minimum wage has put pressure on hospitality businesses, and said that the government needs to “start relieving” the sector. Starmer’s former deputy [...]
Khao Bird: Top Thai restaurant takes over Soho’s last dirty cinema February 10, 2026 What could be a greater sign of the times than a hip pop-up restaurant opening on the site of Soho’s last adult cinema? It’s over! Soho’s dead! First they closed the late night drinking dens and then they pushed out the brothels and now there’s nowhere to watch grubby movies. The final remnants of seedy [...]
Educating builders: Teaching entrepreneurship is good for the economy February 10, 2026 By Eduard Panteleev, Co Founder & Co CEO of ANNA Money One of the biggest issues with how we talk about business in the UK is that we rely on definitions that don’t make sense in real life. Take “small and medium-sized enterprises”, or SMEs, the term used to describe businesses with fewer than 250 [...]
Baby octopus and super strength sausage: the Italian restaurant refusing to bow to trends February 6, 2026 Italian restaurant 2Veneti is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year by doing things the way they always have, says Adam Bloodworth How about a great pile of baby octopi for starters? They’re super soft and super controversial, with many chefs believing the animals should reproduce three times before being eaten, to allow each a long [...]