Hush money: Bond backs brasserie

Roger Moore and a group of celebrity and business investors' who are shareholders in Mayfair restaurant Hush, will see the restaurant spawn a chain of brasseries.

Restaurateur Jamie Barber has raised money from some of the existing investors in Hush to open a brasserie version of it in Holborn.

Hush backers include Evgeny Lebedev, owner of this newspaper, socialites Andy and Patti Wong and Adam and Sam Kaye — the founders of restaurant chains Ask and Zizzi. There are also a number of smaller private investors.

The group already owned shares in Hush and have now topped up their investment by another £1 million to open Hush Brasserie. The site in High Holborn is due to open next month.

Barber’s other chain, Brazilian street food restaurant Cabana has two London sites and has now raised a total of £4 million from business investors including Nigel Wray, chairman of Saracens Rugby Football Club, Stephen Marks, founder of French Connection and property investor Nick Leslau for a roll out of up to 15 restaurants over the next three years.

He said: “London is buoyant if the restaurant offer is right. People want good value, whether it is £10 or £50 a head. When I open a restaurant we create around 50 jobs a time so it is a really good boost for the area.”

Barber opened Hush in 1999 and has also founded chains Kitchen Italia and Villandry. He sold these chains last year. The Hush Brasserie will open at High Holborn, on the site of a former Villandry, where Barber secured the 25 year lease after the sale.