
Will Beckett and Huw Gott are opening their sixth Hawksmoor in London by Borough Market, at 16 Winchester Walk, SE1 9AQ, in the New Year. Hawksmoor Borough, a 140-cover restaurant spread over two floors is due to open in February 2017.
When Hawksmoor first opened 10 years ago, with a plan to ‘buy the best, and prepare it as simply as possible’, Will and Huw’s first port of call on the hunt for suppliers was Borough Market and those early visits really shaped what Hawksmoor became. Almost every early Hawksmoor supplier had a stall or shop there.
Will: “We have always dreamed of opening a restaurant in the area. There’s something really special about being on our suppliers’ doorsteps, and as Borough was such an influence on us in the early days it feels like, 10 years later, we are coming home. Borough Market gave us inspiration, contacts and produce – we would like to be able to repay it by creating a special restaurant that celebrates its produce and becomes a long-lasting institution of and for the local area.”
Will and Huw are particularly excited about the building. Built in the mid 19th Century, it started life as a hops warehouse owned by hop merchants Wood, Field & Hanbury. In 1933 it was taken over by Borough Market fruit merchant J O Sims, who specialised in ‘colonial and foreign fruit,’ and became a fruit warehouse with a fruit auction hall on the second floor. The look and feel is of a Victorian warehouse, with original timber beams and brickwork and lots of windows. “The building has lots of existing character. We’re going to sensitively build the restaurant’s interior around this heritage. It’s a very exciting project”, says Gott who is developing the interiors with Macaulay Sinclair architects.
Hawksmoor Borough will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week and will take reservations. More information to follow closer to the opening date.