Oxford Street

There have been some big changes at John Lewis recently, and one of the biggest was to completely relaunch their cafe in the Oxford Street store (and in other locations) as Platter. That launched a couple of months ago, but now they're going one step further and joining up with Elizabeth Haigh to launch a three-month residency of Mei Mei in the store. 

If you haven't yet come across Mei Mei, inspired by a Singaporean-style Kopitiam, you'll find it as one of the key stalls that make up Borough Yards. Inside John Lewis, the residency will take a slightly different turn as

Bancone have only just opened a restaurant in Bloomsbury, but they already have their next one lined up, and this one is in a much more prominent location. 

The seventh Bancone will be the first restaurant (that we know about so far) to open in the old Debenhams location, now known as The M Building. That's turning into a mixed-use building - offices, more retail spaces etc - with Bancone on the ground floor. And given that Oxford Street has just been pedestrianised (a stretch which does include this building), it's certainly a good time to open. It'll make a nice change from

Just minutes away from Oxford Circus, Italian/Mediterranean restaurant Faros is too good to leave to the tourists. 

For two weeks, national treasure and design legend Sir Paul Smith is taking part in an immersive project at Selfridges. And, as part of that, his team have recreated the designer's office inside the store's front windows on Oxford Street. There's a capsule collection of clothes that have been designed for the takeover, book signings and more planned.

But there's one activity in particular that caught our eye, which is the chance to take afternoon tea inside the office at Selfridges Corner Shop.

For just £15 you can book a traditional afternoon tea surrounded by the same

It's all change down on the lower ground floor of Selfridges, where the store's Dolly's Cafe is being transformed. Next week it reopens under a new guise, Imagination Café, which will be "an artist-designed hub where art, food and ideas collide." The folk behind the menu are Malik Acid, the brother and sister team of Cameron and Missy Malik-Flynn. Cameron's a drinks man who's worked for BAO and The Standard. Missy is probably best known as the co-founder of perma-hot Soho spot Rita's.

For the Selfridges cafe, the duo have brought in artist Katie Stout, commissioning her to create

Every part of town has one, a restaurant site that nobody seems to be able to make work until someone comes along with something singular enough to break the curse. But it can be done. In our own neck of the woods, Islington, the fabulous Tofu Vegan successfully turned a restaurant blackspot into a thriving business.

In the West End, one such restaurant doom spot would definitely be 8-9 Market Place. Since we've been doing Hot Dinners, we've seen a slew of restaurants come and go. The most recent, Carmel, didn't even make it to the one-year anniversary.

So there's a lot

When you already run two Greek delis in London and represent a host of artisanal Greek food producers, then opening a full-blown restaurant is really the next logical step. So that's why ERGON, the group behind the ERGON delis off Regent Street and Westfield London, is about to open Taverna Ermou.

It'll be the first London outpost of a restaurant that they opened in Athens last year. Open all day, the breakfast menu will include koulouri bagels served with eggs, smoked salmon and Greek yoghurt, along with pancakes, cold-pressed smoothies and bougatsa with sweet or savoury

Planning a shopping trip to Oxford Street? Here are a few places on and off the main thoroughfare where you can pop in for a bite to eat when you lose the will to do any more shopping or simply want to escape the crowds.

Updated 12/12/25 with booking info

For a while now clothing brand Kith and its treat store have been one of the best places to get soft serve in London. But the imminent opening of their flagship store on Regent Street is going to bring both a Treats bar and a standalone restaurant.

Ronnie's New York, named after Kith founder Ronnie Fieg, will have its own entrance. It looks like a gorgeously designed space - with a mix of booth and counter seating. The space has its own cocktail lounge where they'll be serving up drinks like a Rose Espresso Martini

Marylebone has a new sushi spot that wouldn't look out of place in the heart of Mayfair. But it turns out that Aki London is more than just a looker.

If you haven't been downstairs to the food hall at the M&S Pantheon on Oxford Street recently (that's the one between Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road) then you might want to rectify that. Turns out that the company has just spent an absolute shedload on giving the space here a full-on makeover, and it's looking rather lovely.

Taking up almost 20,000 square feet, one of the key features of the new hall is a

London's old banks have proved to be a rich source of venues for London's restaurant and bar scene in recent years. Now, over on Cavendish Square behind Oxford Circus, a £15 million refurb of a former bank sounds like it'll be quite the looker when it opens as a new restaurant this autumn.

Aki London is the first international opening for a Maltese restaurant group, which opened Aki in Valetta five years ago. It's taking

11/4/25 - updated with the opening date and more details

With the closures of both DH Evans and Debenhams on Oxford Street, at least one of the department stores left is planning to be in there for the long haul. John Lewis just announced a big makeover, and as part of that, they've brought in Jamie Oliver. 

The chef, who hasn't opened

18/3/25 - Updated with a confirmed opening date

If you've been anywhere near Oxford Circus in the past year or so, you will have seen the massive Ikea that's taking shape there in the former Top Shop space (as well as their Ikea bag pop-up shop). Now, after all the wait, we're getting closer to it all actually opening.

Of course, all of this is good news for anyone who fancies getting on a bus home

Arriving with impeccable timing to cater to the crush that is going to be Oxford Street over the coming weeks, Japanese baking folk Happy Sky Bakery unveiled their brand new bakery over the weekend. This, their second place, is on Hanway Street which is, as they handily explain "a quiet little street tucked just behind the big Primark near Tottenham Court Road station."

"I can’t promise everything will be