The next Lord Mayor is going to be spoiled for choice when it comes to lunch options.
The latest restaurant looking to move in close to the mayor’s official Mansion House residence is none other than London society favourite The Ivy.
Troia UK Restaurants Ltd – the property development arm of The Ivy Restaurant and Grill – has submitted a licence application to City of York Council for 2 St Helen’s Square.
That is the property currently occupied by outdoor clothing and equipment retailer Blacks.
Started search last year
According to this application, the new restaurant is planning to open from 8am to half past midnight. It also wants a licence to serve alcohol between 10am and midnight.
Last December, YorkMix revealed that the Caprice Group was looking for locations in York for an Ivy restaurant.
It looks like that search is over.
Number 2 St Helen’s Square is a large property which closely mirrors Bettys, which shares the same side of the square.
No planning application has yet been submitted to the council, and there is no news of if and when Blacks would move out.
Chef showdown
If the restaurant does go ahead, the Ivy will follow hot on the heels of Carluccio’s, the 168-cover Italian restaurant which opened last month in a beautifully transformed former bank.
The famous chef who gave his name to the chain, Antonio Carluccio, is having his 80th birthday party at the York restaurant next week – followed by a signing of his latest book on Saturday, April 22.
He was mentor to Jamie Oliver who, of course, opened his own restaurant on St Helen’s Square several years ago.
The original Ivy restaurant, in the heart of London’s theatre world, is well known as the haunt of celebrities and supermodels.
Now its menu and sense of style is being rolled out to selected areas of the country as The Ivy Collection, with venues in Bath and Bristol.