London owners go fourth in Hampstead
Restaurateurs Tom Etridge and Beth Coventry have opened their fourth London restaurant with the launch of the Wells restaurant and bar in Hampstead.
It will seat 20 in the ground-floor restaurant, 20 outside, and 44 upstairs in three interconnecting dining rooms. The menu is French with a smattering of Mediterranean dishes, and main courses start at £10.50.
Chef Derek Creagh has worked at both the Riverside Brasserie and the Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire. The proprietors also own Golborne House in west London, the Waterway canal-side restaurant in Maida Vale, and the Ebury in Victoria.
Hurricane blows into Manchester
Hurricane Restaurants will open its second Hurricane Bar & Grill this September on the site of former celebrity restaurant the Reform in Manchester.
It will combine an 88-seat main restaurant with an executive membership and VIP lounge/restaurant that will seat another 32.
Operations manager Mark Randerson was general manager at Manchester's Lowry hotel and launched Marco Pierre White's River Room in the city.
The first Hurricane Bar & Grill opened in Edinburgh in August 2002.
Priory House opens under new owners
The Priory House restaurant in Stoke-sub-Hamdon in Somerset, which won a Michelin star under previous owners Martin and Michelle Haddon, reopened last week under its new owners, Peter and Sonia Brooks.
The Brookses say they are not seeking a Michelin star but will run the 25-seat property as a fine-dining restaurant, serving classical English cuisine.
The Brookses managed hotels for Trusthouse Forte for 12 years, spent two years in the group's motorway services business and then worked in event catering for 14 years with Letheby & Christopher.
Vegetarians go the contemporary root
Eat and Two Veg is the name of a new vegetarian restaurant opened by David Krantz in Marylebone High Street, London.
Styled like a contemporary diner, the restaurant will seat 100 and offers veggie versions of such meaty favourites as sausage and mash and shepherd's pie, alongside a range of breakfasts, Italian pizzas, pastas, salads, Thai and Chinese classics, and Middle Eastern and North African dishes. Main-course prices range from £6.50 to £9.