Beefbar takes over Dear Jackie, and Soho gets its own design district (12 September 2026)
A week of central London openings that leans towards bars. A Monte Carlo steakhouse has moved into a Soho hotel basement, the team behind Mr Fogg's has taken a room inside Admiralty Arch, and Soho is running as a design district in its own right for the first time.
Beefbar opened at Dear Jackie, Broadwick Soho, on 10 September
Beefbar opened in Broadwick Soho on 10 September, taking the subterranean Dear Jackie room and the ground floor Bar Jackie above it. This is the group's return to London after its Mayfair site closed, and it lands in a hotel rather than a standalone building.
The menu runs on Japanese Kobe and Australian Wagyu with the group's signature sauce, plus two dishes written for London only: a Wagyu shepherd's pie and a truffled cordon bleu. Riccardo Giraudi founded Beefbar in Monte Carlo in 2005 and has since opened in Paris, Milan, Mykonos and New York; the pitch has always been the steakhouse restyled as a Riviera dining room rather than a chophouse.
Sources: Wallpaper* and Restaurant, 10 August 2026.
Inception Group is opening a bar inside Admiralty Arch
Inception Group, the company behind Mr Fogg's and Cahoots, confirmed on 7 September that it will run a 2,400 sq ft, 60 seat bar called The Admiral's Mess inside the Waldorf Astoria London at Admiralty Arch. It is the group's first bar inside a hotel, and it sits outside its existing brands rather than extending one of them.
The hotel itself is billed for autumn 2026 and will be the first ever inside the Grade I listed arch, with restaurants from Clare Smyth and Daniel Boulud alongside whisky and cocktail bars. Charlie Gilkes, Inception's co-founder, said the group had "created a totally unique concept fitting for such a historic site". The theme has not been described beyond that, which given Inception's record probably means it is the point.
Sources: Restaurant, 7 September 2026 and Time Out London, 11 September 2026.
Soho runs as its own design district, 12 to 20 September
London Design Festival opened on 12 September and Soho is taking part as a standalone district for the first time, curated by Informare and Yasmin Jones-Henry with support from Shaftesbury Capital. The venues are ones people already walk past: the Heal's Building, Soho Lighthouse, The Soho Hotel, the Century Club, the Groucho Club and The Union Club.
Worth planning around: Claire Davis's photography exhibition Soho: People & Place, the GÜDÜ collection from Stüdyo Akdoğan running 10 to 19 September, and Bocci's Purple 14p light by Bethan Laura Wood, which launches on 16 September. The restored Spirit of Soho mural also gets a celebration in the programme. Most of it is free to walk into, which is not true of every district.
Source: Interior Designer, 10 September 2026.
Still to come this month
- Pearl, The Beaumont, Brown Hart Gardens: listings now have it opening Monday 14 September, with Lisa Goodwin-Allen overseeing an all day Mediterranean menu.
- Dumbo, Berwick Street, Soho: the Paris smash burger shop, mid September.
- Cassette, 42 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden: 23 September, from the Levan team.
- Lunette, level 11 of 180 The Strand: late September, Florence Knight cooking at Nick Jones's St Clement hotel.
Source: Hot Dinners, new London restaurants opening in September 2026.