Huge New Food Market Plans to Continue Dining Renaissance in the City

A massive new food court is scheduled to open in the City of London at the start of next year. It joins the Bloomberg Arcade, the Ned, Broadgate Circle, as a centralised area of dining which has transformed the City in the past two years. Another major food hall — Eataly, an American import — will open in 2020.

22 Bishopsgate, which is due to open this year and is described as a “next generation work space,” has announced that it will feature “The Market, a first of its kind, 20,000-square-foot food hub” which will occupy the communal space on the second floor of the building whne it opens at the start of 2020.

The space will include a restaurant, run by Rhubarb, the restaurant management company behind a planned kitsch opening at Centre Point called Vivi later this year, following its recent exploits in New York City, which, according to Eater NY critic Ryan Sutton, is an “overwrought yet underachieving fusion disaster” at the new, generally lamentable Hudson Yards development. Lending Rhubarb a creative ear will be the Young British Foodie (YBFs) organisation which has awarded and given prominence to a number of young chefs, writers, and members of the hospitality industry in the past decade.

The Market — in total, a 450-cover space — will feature an adjoining terrace, a modern wine bar, as well as a selection of food and drink stalls in “street-food style kiosks and pop-ups” that are continually rotated to provide “diversity, new ideas and choice.” It will also house an events and cultural area which seeks to support “a dynamic programme of talks, music and private events.”

“Designed to shine a spotlight on the future tastemakers of the British food and drink industry,” The YBFs have been selected to “source the varying range of operators for the kiosk elements of The Market, working with hotly-tipped culinary stars of the future in a first-of-its-kind collaboration.” The YBFs for their awards programme have worked with chefs Nuno Mendes, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Melissa Hemsley, as well as writers Marina O’Loughlin and Fay Maschler. Past winners of the YBF chef of the year award including Tomos Parry of Brat.

Lily Jones, Co-Founder of The YBFs and owner of Lily Vanilli bakery in east London, said: “22 Bishopsgate is creating a permanent platform to incubate concepts from the food and drink stars of the future, which demonstrates a real commitment to supporting emerging talent in the industry. The YBFs looks forward to collaborating with the 22 Bishopsgate team to create a new foodie destination for London.”

Harry Badham, U.K. head of development at AXA IM — Real Assets, the company financing the project said: “Culture and amenity are an integral part of 22 Bishopsgate and both are becoming increasingly critical in the success of any workplace.

“Over the last 12 months we have met and worked with many of the people at the forefront of the food and hospitality world both to refine the offer at The Market, and to select the best operator, designers and partners. We want the offer to stay relevant over time, adapting and evolving in response to trends and tastes to best serve 22 Bishopsgate’s community, and we believe we have created a unique collaboration that will achieve this aim.”

Those in charge say that 22 Bishopsgate will be the first of its kind to house a food hub like The Market, as well as an innovation hub, gym and wellbeing retreat.

The development will also offer a curated ‘art walk’, business club, auditorium, meeting spaces, project space and cycle hub, as well as the London’s highest free public viewing gallery. It will be the first UK tower to contain in excess of 100,000 square feet of integrated amenity and social spaces, creating an inspiring, healthy and energising workplace for a vibrant and diverse business workforce of 12,000 people.