Jamie Oliver is set to return to the London food scene, when he opens a new restaurant at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Covent Garden towards the end of this year.
The as-yet-unnamed venture from one of the country’s most famous celebrity chefs will occupy a new site on Catherine Street, adjacent to the theatre specialising in seasonal British dishes. Oliver will source produce from suppliers he has worked with over his almost 30-year-career, including free-range chickens and ducks from Creedy Carver and charcuterie from Cobble Lane Cured.
Oliver shot to fame with The Naked Chef TV series in 1999 after impressing BBC producers with an unscripted appearance in a documentary about The River Café, where he was working as a sous chef. He grew up in Essex at his parents’ pub-restaurant The Cricketers in Chevening and went on to open 22 restaurants around the UK, including Jamie’s Italian, Barbecoa and Fifteen London. The Theatre Royal site will be Oliver’s first London opening since the collapse of his restaurant group in 2019 which resulted in the loss of around 1,000 jobs.
“Losing my restaurants was one of the hardest times of my life,” Oliver says. “But being a positive part of the restaurant industry is very close to my heart.”
The chef says that the new restaurant is inspired by the dishes he grew up cooking at his parents’ pub. “It’s about celebrating Britain’s rich and diverse food scene in what I hope will be an iconic, trusted restaurant in a very special place. This opportunity truly means the world to me.”
Theatre Royal Drury Lane is owned and operated by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres and is currently home to the stage musical of the Disney movie Frozen. The theatre was founded in 1663 and is best known as the location where Charles II’s most famous mistress, Nell Gwynn, worked as an orange seller. The venue reopened in 2021 following a two-year, £60m restoration with four new hospitality spaces including the Lily Vanilli afternoon tea.
Commenting on Oliver’s new restaurant, Madeleine Lloyd Webber says: “We are delighted that, in opening this restaurant, the final part of our vision for Theatre Royal Drury Lane has come to fruition. We are thrilled that Jamie Oliver will be operating a restaurant as part of our five-star theatre experience.”
