‘I love informality’: Jackson Boxer on revamping London and Below Stone Nest

“We always wanted it to be a beautiful discovery – a magical discovery – but inevitably in this era of social media hype, people fell in love with it and documented it and suddenly we were just swarmed beyond the capacity that we were set up at that point to handle, which was a wonderful problem to have,” says Jackson. He and his brother therefore made the decision to invest in the space further to ensure it was “within the expectations of a late night venue operating in central London”, while also crucially retaining the “fundamental charm” of the 120-cover site.

This has involved launching an inaugural snack menu, which takes some inspiration from the stripped-back bodegas of Barcelona, where Frank now lives with his wife, as well as Japanese izakaya culture. “Before, there was absolutely no food. We did debate it, but putting in a professional kitchen – even a small one – is incredibly expensive, so we really needed to see the place work,” Jackson says. “In the early days, people weren’t even arriving there until 11pm after they had eaten, so the idea that anyone would be coming hungry was not obvious.”

Following the installation of a compact kitchen consisting of a plancha, induction hobs and a Rational oven during a short period of closure, Jackson is serving a “very simple, rustic and homely menu”, which includes the likes of English potato salad with seaweed vinegar, seaweed mayonnaise, trout roe and spring onions; a spike of octopus poached in Sichuan peppercorn-infused oil and pickled cheese; and a grilled sandwich filled with Templegall cheese, Cheddar cheese, Boudin Noir and Jambon de Paris drizzled in Aleppo pepper honey. He is particularly proud of the “super delicious and really boozy” frozen White Russian soft-serve, which is Below’s practical twist on an espresso martini (the bar does not yet have a coffee machine). “By having delicious things to eat available, it could actually embellish and further polish what we were doing – what was already a very beautiful, fun and engaging experience,” Jackson says.

Key to this is keeping prices accessible for a younger audience, who now find themselves being “priced out of a lot of restaurants”, especially in and around London. “Restaurants have never been more expensive to run. Labour costs are very high, food and drink costs are very high, and people don’t have nearly as much money to spend, so we are trying to create another space for people who were used to eating in restaurants who now feel slightly starved of the opportunity to do that with frequency,” he explains. “Young people still have great nightclubs, but there are fewer of them than there were in my day, and obviously it’s always easy to look at these things through nostalgic glasses, but equally I do feel like it’s my duty that there are great places for young people.”

He feels the same way about Grade II-listed Brunswick House in London’s Vauxhall, which he opened aged just 23 in 2010 as a 10-seat counter as his first restaurant. That area of London has changed considerably following the launch of Battersea Power Station in 2022 and the establishment of the new home of the American Embassy in Nine Elms in 2018. As of last month, the restaurant is across the road from London’s first Park Hyatt, Park Hyatt London River Thames. But while new development continues to raise the value of the neighbourhood, Jackson is keen for Brunswick House to continue attracting that ungentrified customer base.

“One of the reasons why Brunswick House can do what it does is because we share the building with [architectural antiques company] LASSCO, and we have a private dining capacity where we can host events,” he says. “We do one large-scale wedding there a week on a Saturday and we can seat 120 people. The economy of scale on events makes it a very profitable side of the business and that has allowed us to slightly hedge against some of the increases we’ve seen recently.” Jackson goes as far as to say the events arm accounts for roughly a third of the revenue at Brunswick House.

And while his restaurants are “just as busy as [they] ever were”, he has noticed a slight drop in spend per head, particularly among the younger clientele. “A bottle of fancy wine is no longer on the menu for them. The days of people ordering very generously from wine lists is not happening for us,” he explains. That is also partly why the chef has refocused his efforts on creating more casual spaces, such as the revamped Below and his latest bistro Henri, which he has devised in collaboration with the “irresistible” Paris-based, Christian Louboutin-backed Experimental Group, which owns Cowley Manor Experimental and the Henrietta hotel in London. The restaurant aims to offer something “deeply democratic at its heart” in a stylish, cosmopolitan setting.

“Bistro cookery relishes the use of the cheaper cuts. It’s all about offal, saucisson, cuts like bavette anglaise – these much more accessible cuts of meat. It’s warm and hospitable. Ultimately, if you are making everything expensive, it’s not exactly inhospitable, but you’re not being hospitable to everyone,” he says.

“I love informality and I think that is something that is much harder to do in the current climate,” Jackson adds. “I feel like there is a huge sense of purpose for me to make sure we are doing everything we can at Orasay, Brunswick House, Henri, Selfridges at the Corner and Below so that they can be for everyone, because we all deserve them.”