Polpo operators Russell Norman and Richard Beatty have confirmed that they have a further opening lined up for Soho, in Walkers Court.
In an interview with Bloomberg, the pair, who will open the Ape & Bird pub in Covent Garden in November, said they had signed with Soho Estates to open a 4,500sq ft restaurant and bar on Walkers Court. Norman has previously talked about launching a pizza concept next year.
The group has also secured a new home in Soho for their Polpetto site in Berwick Street.
Norman said: “People think we’re opening a lot of restaurants, but we’ve only got five and it’s because the initial Polpo was so successful that we’ve been able to fund our growth.
“We don’t have a third-party investor: We simply build restaurants on the back of cash flow. We estimated that the weekly turnover we needed to keep our heads above water at the original Polpo on Beak Street would be about £18k to £20k and it’s regularly doing two to three times that.”
