Alexis Noble to reopen Wander in Stoke Newington

Alexis Noble has announced that her restaurant Wander in London’s Stoke Newington will be reopening at the end of the month after she was able to secure a visa.

“Our final months of service with all our amazing regulars made me realise this restaurant is my home and I was not ready to leave,” said the Australian restaurateur, announcing the news on Instagram that her visa was granted “a lot quicker than expected”.

The venue will ‘soft open’ on 30 March, with plans to open Thursday-Saturday evenings offering a four-course menu for £25 per person throughout April, then from 10 May the restaurant will open Wednesday-Saturday evenings with a full menu. The restaurant is recruiting for kitchen and front-of-house staff for the relaunch.

“The problem was to go apply from Aus there would be no guarantee that my visa would actually be granted, the wait time was a minimum of 24 weeks & if I was denied after I left the UK i was not allowed to return even as a tourist for over 2 years. I debated staying & waiting for my appeal to be processed but in Oct found out my mum had some health issues & I needed to return home to be with her whilst she underwent treatment,” she said.

“So coming back to the UK was never guaranteed & was actually a huge gamble. ( which is all very Wander ) I don’t want people to think I’ve been deceptive about closing/opening cause realistically there was a really high chance we wouldn’t reopen and if that did occur I wanted to have closed Wander properly and with no regrets.”

Wander closed in November after five years. It was forced to close in October last year while Noble appealed a decision to deny her visa extension, during which time she was not allowed to work, and although it reopened, at the time Noble announced its closure as she wanted “to be able to spend more time at home”.