HAWKSMOOR, Iberica - now Burger & Lobster are to open their first restaurant in the UK outside London.
There's going to be a lot of food competition on King Street with some very big operators too. Is there a market for this gargantuan array of mainly mid-range dining mansions?
Ship Canal House on King Street is said to be the location of their eighth venture. There are six already in London and another in the pipeline for New York which should open before the Manchester restaurant.
Burger & Lobster are owned by the Goodman Restaurant Group and their plans are big. Not only will most of the ground floor of the 1924 Portland Stone building host an expansive new 167 cover restaurant, but there'll also apparently be a 45 cover bar.
Burger & Lobster live up to their name, importing Nebraskan beef and Nova Scotian lobster. The company hopes for an average customer spend up to £27.
King Street's beautiful Grade II Ship Canal House
So more burgers then? Oh good. So, thank the Lord, there's lobster to spread the load. The seafood is the route by which these people will have to carve a niche for themselves - we know all about burgers in Manchester.
If the company can present lobster as shown in the main picture at the top of the page, the place may work. We already have Steak & Lobster in the Radisson Edwardian Hotel but there should be sufficient space between the two rivals to give a standalone, non-hotel, venue more than a good chance of success.
Still there's going to be a lot of food competition on King Street with some very big operators too: Jamie's, Miller & Carter, Room, Brown's, Rosso and the new Hotel Gotham above Jamie's also featuring a restaurant.
That's, what, more than 700 covers? Is there a market for this gargantuan array of mainly mid-range dining mansions? Is this the food equivalent of the way Peter Street overheated on vast drinking barns before its very different recent and yet to complete, renewal? Time will tell.
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