Pub

• The Watermans Arms is reopening in Barnes with a dream team behind it

  

  Every once in a while we hear about an opening with a dream team that really makes us sit up and pay attention. That's definitely the case with The Watermans Arms in Barnes which is reopening next month. The waterside pub had been closed for a year, but when it flings opens its doors once more it will be with the former head chef of the Camberwell Arms running the kitchen.

  Head chef Sam Andrews is being joined by manager

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• London Fields pub The Prince Arthur scores a hot new head chef

  

  With all the comings and goings in the London food world, we took note when The Prince Arthur in London Fields announced the arrival of its new head chef. Joe Couldridge arrives at the pub with a very interesting career history. Pre-lockdown he was at Hawksmoor before spending the Covid period down in Cornwall with ex-Fera chef Dan Cox on his farm, Crocadon. After that, he was a year at Leroy before most

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• Revamped pub the Earl of Derby and Gengelly's are coming to New Cross

  

  With lots of news about pubs closing, it's always good news to hear of those getting a little more love. From Telegraph Hill, New Cross, news reaches us of such a promising pub overhaul. 

  The Earl of Derby is getting a proper restoration by a team who are looking to bring it back to its Victorian finest. The pub has been taken over by Parched, an independent group that also

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• Test Driving Hicce Hart - the Hicce team's impressive neighbourhood Islington pub

  

  Following up on their success in King's Cross, Hicce's Pip Lacey and Gordy McIntyre have come to Islington with something quite different in Hicce Hart. We popped down to see how they've adapted this neighbourhood pub. 

• Notting Hill's The Pelican is popping up in the Cotswolds this winter

  

  Ever since it opened its doors this summer, Notting Hill pub The Pelican has been packing them in, whether it's locals wanting a piece of that lobster pie or celebrities after a quiet-ish drink.

  Now the chaps behind it - owners James Gummer and Phil Winser – are taking the pub on a jaunt to the countryside. They're popping up at The Bull Inn in Charlbury in the heart of the Cotswolds. It's a

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• Test Driving The Barley Mow - a Mayfair pub reborn

  

  The latest addition to Mayfair's pub dining scene has arrived with a very clubby dining room and plenty of theatrical flourishes.

• The Compton Arms in Islington is under threat

  

  30/09/22 - update

  A decision is getting closer as the public hearing for the Compton Arms licensing has been announced - it will be on Wednesday 12 October 2022 (with a pre-report available here, four working days before). The meeting starts

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• Mayfair scores a new Ben Tish pub and restaurant: The Barley Mow

  

  There’s an impressive new dining destination about to hit Mayfair. The Barley Mow is a pub and restaurant set in a Grade-II-listed building on the corner of Brown Hart Gardens and Duke Street. The building was snapped up by pub group Cubitt House a while back, after closing down during the pandemic. Now you can admire the refurbished surroundings and sink an ale with the likes of haggis Scotch eggs or battered pollock,

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• The Starman, a David Bowie-inspired bar, opens on Heddon Street

  

  Ground control to David Bowie fans: Heddon Street will already be familiar to you as the location for the Ziggy Stardust album photo cover in 1972, which is commemorated by a blue plaque. Now, just a few doors down, the tribute to the musician continues with The Starman, which opened in early July.

  Taking over the old Strawberry Moon bar/club site, The Starman brings some ch-ch-changes (sorry; we’ll stop this)

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• Mayfair's Guinea Grill landlord Oisin Rogers is on the move

  

  Six years ago we ran a news story about the move of top pub landlord Oisin Rogers, who was taking over The Guinea Grill in Mayfair. In the intervening years, Rogers has turned the Bruton Place pub into one of the best known drinking holes and steak restaurants in

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• Notting Hill’s Walmer Castle to reopen as a Scottish restaurant and whisky bar

  

  While there was a lot of buzz about David Beckham and Guy Ritchie buying Notting Hill’s Walmer Castle pub in 2018, it was quietly taken over by entrepreneur and hotelier Piers Adam in February 2022. Adams already co-owns The Punch Bowl with Ritchie and is probably best known for his clubs like Mahiki.

  The pub will reopen in collaboration with Scotland’s oldest whisky hotel, The Craigellachie, to feature

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• Test Driving Upstairs at The George - a Michelin-starred take on pub classics

  

  A dream pub team - JKS restaurants and chef James Knappett - shows a new food and wine-led future for London pubs in their revamp of this Fitzrovia boozer.

• The Princess Royal in Notting Hill is a new pub for Cubitt House and Ben Tish

   

  28/2/22 - Updated with the opening date and menu details

  Recently Ben Tish left his Fitzrovia restaurant Norma and joined up with pub group Cubitt House to completely revamp their food offering (in a role not too dissimilar to the one he had at Salt Yard). As part of this, he's been overhauling the food in pubs like The Coach Makers Arms in Marylebone (together with

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• Upstairs at The George sees James Knappett take pub dining to the next level in Fitzrovia

  

  Back in November, we first reported on the second project by dream team JKS (Gymkhana, Hoppers), James Knappett (Kitchen Table) and publican Dominic Jacobs (The Running Horse) - a makeover of The George in Fitzrovia. That followed their successful opening of The Cadogan on the King's Road in Chelsea.

  The Fitzrovia pub opened its ground floor offering before Christmas. That

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• Test Driving The Plimsoll - Four Legs' Finsbury Park boozer with great food

  

  The Four Legs team have opened their own pub in Finsbury Park. Hot Dinners scored a hard-to-get seat and went to check it out.