Jamie Oliver has been given the green light for a new flagship branch of his Italian restaurant chain in Victoria after he promised to make it more like a shop.
Westminster councillors unanimously waved through the proposal for a Jamie’s Italian in the former Kingsgate Parade in Victoria Street.
The local authority’s planning committee originally refused the application in April because they want to see more retailers in the area, which is undergoing a huge regeneration.
But revised plans were accepted last night after executives from the chef’s company said the restaurant will also have external and internal display tables selling fresh produce, dried pasta, sauces and oils.
It will occupy the ground and first floors of the east building of Kingsgate House, now known as Kings Gate.
The application says the restaurant, which will seat 272 diners inside with 118 outside and stay open until 12.30am at weekends, “will add considerably to the richness and diversity of the retail offer” in the area. The Jamie’s Italian chain has been hugely successful although Oliver had a setback earlier this year with the closure of three outlets in his pizza mini-chain Union Jacks.
He divides his time between his £7 million London home and an Essex estate with wife Jools and their four children. The Jamie brand is reportedly worth £150 million.
