Salt Bae Will Not Be Opening a Burger Restaurant at The Audley in Mayfair

Art dealers Hauser and Wirth look set to take over The Audley pub in Mayfair, putting to bed murmurs that world-famous Turkish butcher Nusret Gökçe — Salt Bae — would open a burger restaurant on the site. The project, a pub with rooms and a focus on displaying art will open with support from luxury department store Fortnum and Mason’s chief executive, Ewan Venters, according to Propel.

The three-floor building at 41 - 43 Mount Street could replicate Hauser and Wirth duo Ivan and Manuela Wirth’s hotel project in Scotland, The Fife Arms, a luxury hotel whose environment also functions as a kind of gallery for contemporary art, without self-consciously identifying as such. It’s unlikely to welcome Salt Bae’s operation.

Eater understands that Salt Bae’s backers, Dogus, still wish to open in London despite a spree of financial restructuring after struggling to pay back loans invested in other restaurants. Salt Bae’s co-founders, Ferit Sahenk and Mithat Erdem, were reportedly considering selling a stake in the Salt Bae business with the aim of raising its valuation. A long-rumoured Knightsbridge restaurant is still in the planning and building, despite being scheduled to open in December.

More soon.