Time Out is in talks about opening a huge new food market on Piccadilly Circus 18 months after it scrapped plans to launch in the capital.
The publisher and venue operator, once best known for its weekly “what’s on” magazine, now runs gastro-hubs in major locations around the world from Boston to Cape Town.
It pulled out of the development of a 500-seat food hall near Waterloo in 2020 after the pandemic hit and also held talks about another location in Spitalfields, which were abandoned in March last year after a six year planning row with Tower Hamlets council at a cost of £1 million.
But the company is now in advanced negotiations with the Crown Estate about opening a market at Grade II listed 10 Piccadilly, the former home of the Swan & Edgar department store that also hosted Tower Records in the Eighties, and Virgin Records in the Nineties.
In recent years the 99 year old building has been used for office and retail space.
Time Out confirmed today that is raising £8 million through a share placing “to support growth, via up-front cash investments in new Market leases in London and New York and to accelerate investment in IT.”
Time Out said in a statement: “Time Out confirms that the company is in negotiations in relation to a potential London Market as part of a pipeline of further global locations in the ordinary course of business.
“The company has not entered into any legally binding arrangements in relation to any London Market and there can therefore be no certainty that the current negotiations will result in a subsequent opening.”
Time Out opened its first food market in Lisbon, Portugal in 2014, which welcomes millions of visitors every year.
It has since expanded to markets in New York, Boston, Montreal, Chicago, Dubai, Cape Town, Porto and Barcelona.
Markets in Bahrain, Osaka, Budapest, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, Prague and Riyadh are listed as ‘coming soon’ on its website.
The Crown Estate has said that it plans for “bringing back to life” 10 Piccadilly, which also include the 55 Regent Street, 16-18 Piccadilly and 1 Air Street addresses include “a new outstanding food hall, with food and drink outlets” as well as “around 6,250sqm of workspace across levels 1–7” and “new end of trip facilities with modern bike storage and shower facilities.”
