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This month we wept over the news that Brixton Rooftop was being turned into a branch of Sports Direct. But today we heard about a fun reversal of the culture-makes-way-for-retail paradigm: the old BHS store on Oxford Street is being transformed into the biggest food hall in the UK.
This autumn the site will reopen as Market Hall West End, a 36,000 sq ft space featuring 25 restaurants, ten food stalls, four bars, an event space and a demo kitchen. Restaurants involved haven’t been named yet, but the man in charge of this market is Simon Anderson – the restaurateur behind much-loved cowboy food joint Pitt Cue Co – so we have high hopes. The site will also feature proper knives and forks and glassware, so it will feel like eating in an insanely big restaurant, not a street food market.
Market Hall West End will be the flagship branch (if you can call a market you can fit roughly 36 double-decker buses into a ‘branch’) of three. Market Hall Fulham, set within the former entrance hall of Fulham Broadway Station, opens in April. Market Hall Victoria opens this summer on the former site of Pacha nightclub. The food scene is looking up.
Market Hall West End will open in Autumn 2018 at the former BHS store on Oxford Street.
Love food halls? Check out our round-up of the best in London.
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