St John to open bar and café in Bridge Theatre

St John is to open a 60-cover bar and café in the Bridge Theatre in London when it opens next month, in a new departure for the restaurant business.

The Bridge Theatre, created by Sir Nicholas Hytner and Nick Starr, is set to become the first wholly new commercial theatre of scale in over 40 years when it opens in October.

In support of that, St John will offer a range of communal tables, smaller tables and high stools as well as standing capacity in the foyer of the building, catering to daytime customers and theatregoers.

A selection of pastries, cakes and doughnuts will be on offer created by St John bakery in Bermondsey. St John madeleines will be available to order, made fresh and hot for the interval, and there will also be snacks, lunch and pre-theatre dishes as well a sandwiches such as cold roast lamb and aioli, or egg mayonnaise and cress, as well as small plates such as terrine, smoked mackerel with horseradish, globe artichokes or potted beef.

St John chief executive and co-founder Trevor Gulliver said: "It has been a pleasure to be involved with the creation of a new ‘free-thinking' theatre for London, with a philosophy so close to that of St John. We are looking forward to exciting times ahead, a new departure from what has gone before."

The first previews of shows at the theatre open on 18 October, and the St John's bar and café is set to launch a few days prior to that.

Gulliver, Fergus Henderson, and Jon Spiteri opened St John Smithfield in October 1994. Spiteri left a few years later but Henderson and Gulliver have continued to run the business, which has grown to include Bread & Wine in Spitalfields, St John Maltby, the St John Bakery in Bermondsey, and St John Wines. St John Smithfield also holds a Michelin star.

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