Leeds development restarts after recession

A multi-million pound shopping development, which will include new restaurants, has got underway again after it stalled during the economic downturn.

Land Securities, which is running the Trinity Leeds shopping development, confirmed that work at the city-centre site will get started again after work stopped at the site in 2009.

Richard Akers, managing director retail for Land Securities, told the Guardian that there is still demand for units at the site because retailers and companies want prime locations for their stores.

"We have seen a building of momentum with the level of secured lettings demonstrating the confidence in Leeds as a destination and in the Trinity Leeds project, which is the first major development scheme outside London to go live," he added.

Tania Jackson, managing director at Red Idea, recently said that traditional advertising mediums, such as magazine and newspaper, can often leave restaurants hoping for the best, whereas social media can be immediate and, more importantly, measurable

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Chinese restaurants score worst in food hygiene scores 1/6/2010
Ethnic restaurants – led by Chinese outlets – had the dirtiest kitchens in a survey by Transparency Data of inspectors’ hygiene ratings on the Scores on the Doors website. Of 491 Chinese restaurants, 55% were awarded fewer than three (out of five) stars because they failed to meet all the regulations to prevent food poisoning, which affects 850,000 people a year. Similar failures were found in 53% of kebab shops and 48% of Indian restaurants and takeaways.  Fish and chip shops and Italian restaurants fared better, with just 28% and 21%, respectively, falling short of the standards. The cleanest restaurants were part of corporate brands, with only 4% of McDonald’s and 1% of KFC branches failing to comply fully with hygiene laws.  Nevertheless, a London outlet of KFC branch was fined £11,000 this month over a cockroach

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York’s first five-star hotel opens on Friday

The Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa opens today (7 May) in York as the city’s first five-star property.
 
Independent group Cedar Court Hotels has invested £25m in the 107-bedroom hotel, which is located in York’s iconic Grade II-listed former headquarters of North Eastern Railway, built in the Edwardian era.

The property offers a restaurant which will be serving locally sourced food prepared by head chef David Sharp, previously executive head chef at the Radisson Edwardian in Manchester, and a spa with five treatment rooms including one double room for friends and couples.

The Grand intends to push the boundaries of guest provision in the city with 24-hour butler service led by head butler Anthony Seddon-Holland, who has worked at Claridge’s and the Ritz in London, as well as for private families in the United States, the Middle East and Russia.

He will serve guests breakfast in bed, lay out clothes and prepare a bath. And if a guest forgets their bedtime read, he will pop out to the shops to buy a book.

“Our vision is to reach back to the golden age of travel – the era when The Grand was built – and revive for the modern world the glamour, panache and luxury of that time,” said Andrew Coney, the hotel’s general manager and a former Acorn winner.

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Voted in the top ten of fish shops in the UK

8. Royal Fisheries, Whitby, North East England

This shop has been in the Fusco family for more than 40 years and current owner Carol Fusco has worked there since she was still at school. The shop’s home-made fish cakes are legendary in the local area and by using fully traceable fish from sustainable sources, the team take the quality of its seafood very seriously. The best seller is cod but haddock, plaice, lemon sole, halibut, pollack and the famous Whitby whole tail scampi feature regularly on the menu.

No stranger to movie stars, the shop featured in the 1998 movie Captain Jack. Telling the story of a Whitby skipper, the film starred Bob Hoskins, Sadie Frost and Maureen Lipman.

Royal Fisheries, 48 Baxtergate, Whitby, North Yorkshire, YO21 1BL

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Jamie Oliver further expands Jamie’s Italian 

Jamie Oliver is expanding his high street restaurant chain Jamie’s Italian, with four new sites set to open in as many months.

The celebrity chef, who launched the Italian restaurant group nearly two years ago now, currently operates seven outlets in the South of England and Cardiff.

He is set to open an eighth restaurant in Cambridge next month as well as a restaurant in Reading, Berkshire, in March.

Jamie’s Italian will launch its first site in the North, with the opening of a restaurant in Leeds in April, and will make its Scottish debut in Glasgow in May.

A flagship restaurant in London is set to launch in the summer in a site located at St Martin’s Courtyard in Covent Garden

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Restaurant jobs boost for East Yorkshire

East Yorkshire looks set for a restaurant jobs boost as a local entrepreneur prepares to open a new eatery in the town of Beverley.

Rolando Poma already runs a cafe and deli in the area and is now set to open up an Italian restaurant in North Bar Within, the Hull Daily Mail reported.
Speaking to the newspaper, Mr Poma revealed that he hopes to have the new outlet up and running by the end of November.

He said: "We can't accommodate larger groups in our existing premises because once you have a few people in the cafe it is full.

"We will now be able to open in the evenings. We hope to provide a true Italian experience for diners."

The expansion will also create a number of restaurant jobs  Mr Poma added.

Recently, the Hull Daily Mail reported that Italian eatery chain ASK will create 30 restaurant jobs in Beverley when it opens a new outlet in the town.