Every time I go to Lisbon I get jealous about the really amazing food hall that Time Out created at Mercado di Ribeira in 2014. The building re-purposed a magnificent old market. It is filled with stalls ranging from street food vendors to takeaway outposts of Michelin starred restaurants, and has become a major tourist attraction. Revenues from Time Out market have also eclipsed those from Time Out’s legacy publishing business, and now runs gastro-hubs in major locations around the world from Boston to Cape Town.
And yet, here in London – the home of Time Out – we have had nothing. Nada. But that is about to change, as Time Out is reportedly in talks about opening a huge new food market on Piccadilly Circus. And this time it looks like it will happen, unlike Time Out’s abortive attempt to create a food market 18 months ago.
Indeed there is something of a saga here as Time Out pulled out of the development of a 500-seat food hall near Waterloo in 2020 after the pandemic hit, and then talks about a location in Spitalfields were abandoned in March 2024 after a long running planning row with Tower Hamlets council.
But it is widely reported that Time Out is now in advanced negotiations with the Crown Estate to open a market at Grade II listed 10 Piccadilly, the former home of the Swan & Edgar department store, the Tower Records in the Eighties, and Virgin Records in the Nineties.
Time Out confirmed today that is raising £8 million through a share placing “to support growth, via up-front cash investments in new Market leases in London and New York and to accelerate investment in IT.”
Time Out said in a statement: “Time Out confirms that the company is in negotiations in relation to a potential London Market as part of a pipeline of further global locations in the ordinary course of business.
“The company has not entered into any legally binding arrangements in relation to any London Market and there can therefore be no certainty that the current negotiations will result in a subsequent opening.”
Markets in Bahrain, Osaka, Budapest, Vancouver, Abu Dhabi, Prague and Riyadh are listed as ‘coming soon’ on its website.
Now the fun begins of speculating as to which restaurants it can entice in there? Suggestions by email….