Busaba to open first restaurant in Oxford

Thai restaurant group Busaba is continuing its fresh bid to expand outside London, having secured its first site in Oxford.

The brand has taken the former Pint Shop site at 27-29 George Street which it will open as a 55-cover restaurant on 10 December.

The upstairs area will offer a £16 pre-theatre menu and feature a private dining area, while a downstairs basement bar inspired by Japanese izakayas will launch at the end of January.

Busaba was founded by Alan Yau, the restaurateur behind the Wagamama and Hakkasan groups, in London in 1999.

It began expanding outside of the capital in 2016, opening sites in Liverpool, Manchester, St Albans, and a restaurant under franchise in Dubai, but they all closed within three years.

The group was acquired by private equity firm Tnui Capital last year and underwent a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) in September 2020 when it had 13 London locations, of which nine are still trading.

Busaba restarted its regional expansion this year and opened its first Welsh site, in Cardiff’s Brewery Quarter food and leisure scheme, in October.