Second Geales to open on the site of Tom's Place

Concept Venues is to open a second site of its fish and chip restaurant Geales in London, with more expansion plans in the pipeline.

The new branch will open in October and will be located on the site of Tom Aikens's former fish and chip restaurant, Tom's Place, on Cale Street in Chelsea.

The company has obtained planning permission to turn the site into a second Geales, and approval has been sought from local residents, who proved central in forcing Tom's Place to close after a planning dispute.

Mark Fuller, director of Concept Venues, said: "It is going to be an exact copy of Geales in Notting Hill - the same menu aimed at a seated rather than the take-away crowd." The restaurant will have two floors of seating as well as a private dining room on the second floor and is on course for an October opening.

Fuller also hopes to open more restaurants under the Geales brand which was originally established in 1939 and acquired and relaunched by Concept Venues in 2006.

"They should be in residential areas and be primarily for locals. I'd like another one around Marylebone and maybe one in Fulham. Ideally I'd like at least six across London," he said.

The opening will be part of a busy two years for Concept Venues, which launched Sanctum on the Green in Berkshire in May and Sanctum Soho in April 2009, as well as outlets of its London nightclub Embassy in Istanbul in 2009, with further plans to launch in Dubai, Portugal and Africa.

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Geales Menuwatch >>

Tom Aikens forced to close fish and chip restaurant >>

By Tom Vaughan

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