Celebrity haunt The Ivy coming to Birmingham
Celebrity restaurant The Ivy is to open up a branch in Birmingham's Temple Row.
It will take over the site of the Louis Vuitton luxury handbags and luggage shop and open early next year.
It is part of ambitious plans to open a string of Ivy restaurants at selected spots across the UK, including Bristol, Bath and Harrogate.
The 25-year lease of the Birmingham site, on the corner of Temple Row and Temple Street, has been sealed with Troia UK, the property development arm of The Ivy. It is headed by restaurateur Richard Carling who's Caprice Holdings group owns restaurants and private dining rooms across London including The Ivy itself and Le Caprice.
The new restuarant will take in 67-71 Temple Row, including both the former Austin Reed premises and the next-door store currently occupied by Louis Vuitton.
Fit-out of the 7,000 sq ft unit is expected to start in early December, once Louis Vuitton relocates elsewhere within the city.
The upmarket brasserie and bar will open in the first quarter of 2018.
The original Ivy in London’s Covent Garden marked its 100th anniversary this year. A favourite haunt of celebrities, figures from the arts and media and theatregoers, it is expanding in the UK regions under its Ivy Collection brand.
Stelios Demetriou, retail and leisure associate director at the Birmingham office CBRE, let the premises on behalf of landlord EPIC.
He said: “The interest from restaurateurs for these premises has been phenomenal and we are thrilled to have secured such a prestigious name.
“67-71 Temple Row provides an exceptional central location overlooking the historic St Philips Cathedral and delivers unique space that complements the Ivy brand.”
