As we wind up the year, there are still some very big new openings still to come this month, including the new opening from Core's Clare Smyth and the long-awaited Guinness brewery in Covent Garden.
Guinness Open Gate Brewery
Covent Garden - Shelton Street, London, WC2H 9PU
It's been a long time coming, but the new Guinness brewery is finally opening in Covent Garden. It's coming at a time when Guinness' popularity in London is absolutely sky-high, so we can see this being a huge hit over the Christmas season (particularly the gift shop). The food sounds particularly interesting with Gillroy's Loft at the top run by Hicce's Pip Lacey and Calum Franklin providing the pies for the ground floor (and terrace) Old Brewer's Yard bar. If you really love a bit of the old black stuff, then a visit here will be an absolute must.
Opening: 11 December 2025
More about Guinness Open Gate Brewery
Corenucopia
Chelsea - 18-22 Holbein Place, London SW1W 8NL
Originally down to open in November, Clare Smyth is now opening her second restaurant this month. We also know a little more about the restaurant, being billed as a "luxury bistro". The menu features British classics given a Clare Smyth-style makeover, so her Toad in the Hole features Cumberland sausage, black pudding, smoked bacon lardons and a charcuterie sauce. Other dishes include the pictured profiterole, which comes with Tahitian vanilla, salted caramel and a pool of hot chocolate sauce. The full menu is yet to be revealed, but we hear that the "luxury" element is certainly reflected in the pricing.
Opening: 4 December 2025
Market Place
Leicester Square - 20–21 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7JX
The Market Place team have opened food halls in St Paul's, Vauxhall and Peckham before this, but the Leicester Square opening is their biggest yet. Inside will be sixteen kitchens spread across all the floors, with a fair bit of variety including steak, burgers, sushi, Caribbean food, duck wraps, lobster rolls, lasagna and more. This will prove to be extremely handy for anyone taking in a film on the square or who needs a refuel after racing around the festive ice rink there.
Opening: 11 December 2025
Mazarine
Mayfair - 22 Hanover Square, London W1S 1JA
This restaurant is opening just outside the Mandarin Oriental in Mayfair, but it's not associated with the hotel (a similar relationship to Carbone and the Chancery Rosewood). It comes from the people behind Sparrow Italia, but this time it's all about Southern France and the Mediterranean (and there's been a fair bit of that in London recently). They've brought in ex-LPM chef Thierry Laborde, previously head chef of Le Gavroche to run things here, with dishes including croque mazarine (a croque monsieur with black truffle and blue lobster), octopus béarnaise and raviole of Cornish crab.
Opening: 2 December 2025
Orion by Alex Webb
Wimbledon - 75-77 Ridgway, London SW19 4ST
Alex Webb was the winner of MasterChef - The Professionals in 2020 and he's already had a very successful residency at The Intercontinental in Mayfair. This is his first solo restaurant and he's said it will be a British/French sharing-style restaurant, with a big focus on seafood. Dishes that have been promised include mini crab waffles covered with brown crab mayonnaise, which does admittedly sound fantastic. He's also promising a dessert trolley, with his own twist on a Twix for dessert.
Opening: 5 December 2025
Chargal
Mayfair - 11 Berkeley Street, London W1J 8DS
Chargal takes over what was Jeru on Berkeley Street and comes from restaurateur Serdar Demir, who's also behind The Mantl in Knightsbridge. A modern Turkish restaurant, it's aiming for a casual, mezze-centred vibe on the ground floor, a more traditional restaurant upstairs and a late-night bar in the basement.
Opening: 11 December 2025
Also opening this month...
Pizza Pilgrims (King's Cross, 1 December) - Their latest pizzeria is just around the corner from King's Cross station.
Vagabond (Canada Water, 4 December) - This will be their biggest wine bar and also features an irban winery
Notto (City of London, date TBC) - Phil Howard's pasta bar comes to the City
All of London's newly opened and upcoming restaurants...
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