Jamie's Italian to open at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms

Jamie Oliver is to open a second restaurant in Scotland with the launch of a Jamie's Italian branch at Edinburgh's Assembly Rooms.

The celebrity chef, who already operates one Jamie's Italian in Glasgow, will take over the Supper Room in the grade A-listed property, which is one of the Scottish capital's most historic arts venues.

The building closed earlier this year for a £9.3m refurbishment to return it to its original blueprint with shops and a restaurant on the ground floor and public rooms on the first.

Councillor Deidre Brock said: "Jamie's Italian will bring an exciting contemporary feel to this beautiful and historic venue, exactly as he has done with his restaurant in Cambridge, itself a listed building."

Jamie's Italian, which is headed up by managing director Simon Blagden, opened its first site in Oxford in spring 2008 and now operates 18 restaurants across the UK.

The group plans to grow to 25 outlets by the end of this year and recently signed on sites in Milton Keynes and St Albans as well as the new Westfield Stratford City in east London. According to the latest publicly available accounts, sales at the chain were £19m in 2009.

Meanwhile, Oliver recently announced that he plans to launch a second restaurant chain called Union Jack's.

Jamie Oliver plans second restaurant chain called Union Jack's >>

Jamie's Italian - what it's like to work for a celebrity chef >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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