Gordon Ramsay takes on London pub
Fans of Gordon Ramsay's cooking could be served Foster's with their frites and find John Smith's in the jus when the leading chef opens his first pub, the Narrow Street Kitchen and Dining Room.
Gordon has agreed terms to take over the lease of the pub, located in the Limehouse district of London. Current lessee Spirit Group will assign the lease to Gordon Ramsay Holdings, which already operates nine restaurants in London. The transfer is expected to be complete by the end of October.
The deal will make the chef, who appears on TV in Hell's Kitchen and Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, a lessee of Waterside Pub Partnership, the joint venture between Scottish & Newcastle and British Waterways. The terms of the lease are likely to include a tie to S&N brands, including Foster's, John Smith's, Kronenbourg and Strongbow.
Gordon told The Publican exclusively last year that he was considering a move into pubs, and last month his company confirmed it was looking to set up a small chain of pubs offering good food at value for money prices.
He will also be no stranger to the bar. Before finding fame in the kitchen, Gordon managed a pub for several months, during which time he learned to change a barrel and clean the beer lines. Just how much time he will spend in the beer cellar at Narrow Street remains to be seen.
The pub was part of the upmarket DevCo food division within Spirit Group. Since the sale of the business to Punch last year, many DevCo sites have been either sold or transferred to lease, as Spirit focuses on mainstream food brands such as Chef & Brewer and Two For One.
The deal is subject to the consent of the landlord - which is Waterside Pub Partnership, the joint venture between British Waterways and Scottish & Newcastle.
