Hotel Openings

🍽 Simon Shand, former head chef at Michelin-starred Shoreditch restaurant Leroy, is leading Topa, a new 22-cover restaurant in London's Holloway Road, focusing on San Sebastian cuisine. Topa operates Thursday to Saturday in the Provisions kitchen, offering pintxos and Basque plates. Dishes include wild mushrooms with egg yolk, beans with tomatoes and garlic, and hake with orzo. Provisions Wine & Cheese, founded in 2015 by Hugo Esquerré, features over 100 cheeses and 120 wines, and collaborates with Shand for Topa, aiming to recreate the communal San Sebastian dining experience.

🍕 Ambassadors Clubhouse, a 140-cover Punjab restaurant, opens in Mayfair’s Heddon Street where Momo once stood. JKS Restaurants, known for Gymkhana and Brigadiers, is behind the venture with sibling founders Jyotin, Karam, and Sunaina Sethi. Menu highlights include rare Punjab recipes and sections like ‘papads and chaat,’ with feast menus at £85 (non-vegetarian) and £80 (vegetarian), and a lunch menu ranging from £35 to £40. The wine list starts at £45, with reds reaching £600. The location is 25 Heddon Street, London, W1B 4BH.

🍕 The Restaurant Group (TRG) saw its revenue increase to £824m in 2023, up from £717m in 2022. Pre-tax losses narrowed to £19.6m from £29.1m previously. TRG disposed of its leisure division, comprised of 75 sites, to Big Table Group and was subsequently acquired by Apollo Funds for £506m. Operating profit for continuing operations jumped to £29.8m in 2023 from £4.6m. Wagamama, part of TRG, experienced an 11% growth, while TRG plans to open 10 new Wagamama restaurants and grow its UK presence to 200-220 sites, with 20-30 in the US by December 2027.

🍕 Pizza Pilgrims, a Neapolitan pizza group with B Corp status, is set to open a new 2,200sq ft, 80-cover restaurant in mid-November on 219 King's Road, Chelsea. The venue will feature indoor and al fresco dining, a basement 'Cinema Paradiso,' and a Capri-inspired 1950s Italian La Dolce Vita theme. Co-founders Thom Elliot has a personal connection to King’s Road through their father. The Chelsea restaurant will join the Sloane Stanley Estate, alongside other recent openings, and is part of the group's expansion, which includes recent launches in Euston and Cardiff, and an upcoming site in Edinburgh scheduled before year's end.

📍 Four Seasons opens in Hangzhou, China, with 188 rooms, 26 suites, three restaurants, a rooftop bar, spa, and gym, plus 2,900 square meters of event space. Mandarin Oriental launches its second Beijing property, featuring 42 courtyard houses and four dining venues. Accor's Pullman brand to debut in Varanasi, India by January 2029 with 180 rooms and over 1,500 square meters of banqueting space. Handwritten Collection by Accor starts in Bali, Indonesia, offering 381 rooms and suites, three pools, direct beach access, and extensive meeting facilities.

🍴 François O'Neill opens Café François in Borough Market on 11 September—a modern-day French canteen influenced by Paris, California, and Montreal. Executive chef Matthew Ryle and front of house Ed Wyand lead the team. The menu offers affordable French classics and global flavors, with in-house baked bread and patisserie. Located at 14-16 Stoney St, London SE1 9AD (cafefrancois.london). Chef Greg Clarke launches El Bolillo, a Mexican restaurant in Hove with sharing tacos and small plates like Porthilly oysters and lamb belly skewers. Expect to spend £55-£60 per head on food at 60 Church Rd, Brighton and Hove, Hove BN3 2FP (elbolillo.co.uk). Jason Atherton's Sael, a British brasserie, replaces Aquavit in St James's Market, London, celebrating British ingredients and furnishings, led by chef Dale Bainbridge. Located at 1 St James's Market, St. James's, London SW1Y 4QQ (saellondon.com). Selin Kiazim returns with Leydi, an all-day Turkish restaurant in Farringdon, inspired by Istanbul's lokantas and meyhanes, situated at 15 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EF (hydehotels.com/london-city/restaurants-bars). Aaron Potter and Laura Hart unveil Wildflowers, a Mediterranean restaurant in

🍕 Big Mamma to open ‘La Bellezza’, a 150-cover trattoria with a 25-cover terrace in Birmingham’s Chamberlain Square, joining five London venues. The site previously housed Vinoteca, which closed in May due to energy prices and train strikes. Co-founders Victor Lugger and Tigrane Seydoux aim to emulate the warmth of Italian trattorias. Big Mamma also plans a Manchester site and another London location in Canary Wharf.

🏨 Hilton announced its entry into Guyana with a dual-branded hotel in Georgetown, featuring the Hilton Georgetown and DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Georgetown. Owned by Assets Group and managed by Hilton, the properties total 411 rooms and are part of an oceanfront mixed-use development. The 11-story Hilton Georgetown will have 253 rooms, while the DoubleTree Suites will include 158 suites. Amenities include a Social Club, a fitness center, spa, and a conference center with 25,900 square feet of space. This move is part of Hilton's expansion in the CALA region, where it has 225 existing hotels and plans to enter eight new countries. Hilton's portfolio in the region has tripled over the past decade, adding nine countries and seven brands.

🏦 The Dead Rabbit, awarded World’s Best Bar in 2016, launched its second venue in Austin, Texas, on July 4. Situated in Downtown Austin’s Sixth Street, the new 5,000-square-foot location seats 50 at the bar and counter, 100 at tables, and has room for more standing guests. The establishment will expand to Washington, D.C., and Boston in 2025. The menu includes exclusive Texas Caviar bowls, alongside Irish breakfasts, bangers and mash, and ribs. The adjacent Neighbourhood Café offers coffee and sandwiches from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., while the bar operates from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. The Dead Rabbit aims to redefine Irish pub culture, avoiding the "McFake" stereotype and focusing on community engagement.

🌇 The Hoxton is opening its first Australian hotel in Melbourne's Cremorne suburb in 2027, with 198 rooms and three dining venues. InterContinental Hotels returns to Serbia with a 203-room hotel in Belgrade, set to open by the end of 2026. Le Méridien opens in Fort Worth, Texas, featuring 188 rooms, marking its first property in the city. Nuveen Green Capital finances Virgin Hotels Las Vegas with a record $190 million CPACE deal, the largest in Nevada and second-largest in the U.S.