The celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has announced he is to launch a new cafe and cookery school in London next year.
Reportedly taking up over 4,000 sq ft. of floorspace, they will open inside the John Lewis Oxford Street flagship in spring 2025, comprising multiple interactive cookery areas and a 50-seat cafe.
In a video posted on the John Lewis Instagram page, Oliver said: “This beautiful, gorgeous, perfectly formed, humble cookery school, that has done tens of thousands of cookery classes, is now going to open up in John Lewis, in a flagship store, in Oxford Street in London.”
Oliver said the venue will feature “two big and beautiful cookery classrooms, a demo theatre and a beautiful cafe”.
There has been no news yet as to what will be on the menu at the cafe, but it’s likely to be full of unfussy food and Italian-inspired dishes, much like Oliver’s latest restaurant in the West End, which opened last year.
The Standard’s restaurant critic, David Ellis, described the food at the Catherine Street opening as “ghoulish” and “unappealing”, yet the main draw to the new space will likely be the cookery school, while the cafe could be a safer bet than a full restaurant.
The school leans heavily into Italian cookery, with myriad pasta courses starting from £59 for a 90-minute session, taught by one of Oliver’s trained chefs.
The intersection of food in department stores is nothing new. Harrods recently welcomed a glut of celebrity chefs into an overhauled dining room, while Selfridges and Harvey Nichols also have restaurant spaces designed for hungry shoppers.
Opening spring 2025, Jamie Oliver Cookery School and Cafe, John Lewis, 300 Oxford Street, W1C 1DX, johnlewis.com
