Our summary of what the national and local restaurant critics were writing about in the week ending 5 March 2023. ***** The Observer Jay Rayner dropped in on 10 Tib Lane during his recent visit to Manchester (see below for a link to his interview with Manchester Live). The “trio of Manchester hospitality veterans behind […]

Continue reading


Newcastle Quayside wine-bar and restaurant St Vincent will re-open next week – three years after closing down when the Covid pandemic struck. Owner Terry Laybourne (pictured centre, with Martin Malinowski, left, and Matt Clarkson), has already reopened the other venues in his 21 Hospitality Group. He said: “It feels wonderful to be finally re-opening St Vincent […]

Continue reading


Leading Birmingham chef Glynn Purnell has opened a tapas bar a street away from his flagship, Purnell’s, in the city’s business district. Plates by Purnell’s occupies the former site of Spanish restaurant Pinchos on Edmund Street. Last year Glynn, aka ‘the Yummy Brummie’, opened The Mount pub in Henley-on-Arden, his first venture outside the Birmingham, […]

Continue reading


Indonesian restaurant Toba opened this week in St James’s Market just off Piccadilly Circus from Pino Edward Sinaga, a former manager at the Chiltern Fire House and Annabel’s, Richard Caring’s private members club in Mayfair. The move into London’s West End marks a significant step up for Pino, who has operated a street-food outfit called […]

Continue reading