BEHIND THE BUSINESS | DIN TAI FUNG 🥟

At BGP we’re very proud to represent some of the most exciting names in retail and hospitality, helping them find the right locations for their next chapter and future growth.

One of our newer clients is Din Tai Fung – the globally renowned Taiwanese restaurant brand with a fast-growing presence in London. We are retained to help Din Tai Fung expand across the city and beyond, bringing them to some of London’s most sought after and visible locations.

WHO ARE DIN TAI FUNG?

Founded in Taiwan more than 60 years ago, Din Tai Fung is famous for its handmade Xiao Long Bao – a handcrafted 18-fold soup dumpling filled with juicy pork and wrapped in a delicate dough skin – a meticulous attention to detail and their memorable, open dining restaurant experience.
WHAT ARE THE ORIGINS OF DIN TAI FUNG?

Din Tai Fung was originally founded as a cooking oil retailer in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1958 as a husband and wife team.  When the introduction of tinned cooking oil changed the industry, they began selling Xiao Long Bao as another arm of the business. These developed a huge following; and the cooking oil side of the business was phased out entirely.

WHAT MAKES THE DINING EXPERIENCE SPECIAL?

The restaurant is known for its meticulous attention to detail – from ingredient selection to preparation and table service.

Din Tai Fung’s open kitchens make the preparation of Xiao Long Bao part of the dining experience, allowing customers to watch the precision and skill involved in their creation.

WHERE CAN I FIND DIN TAI FUNG?

Din Tai Fung opened its first UK restaurant in Covent Garden in 2018 and has since established a growing London presence.

Its four existing locations span some of the capital’s most prominent destinations:

Covent Garden – Henrietta Street, in the heart of London’s West End.

Selfridges – Fourth floor of the iconic Oxford Street department store.

Centre Point – St Giles Square, off Tottenham Court Road.

Canary Wharf – Crossrail Place

Excitingly – the next chapter is already underway, with a fifth London restaurant planned for King’s Cross.  1 Lewis Cubitt Walk will open in December 2026. The 160-cover restaurant will introduce a dedicated alfresco dining space, community dining room, dumpling masterclasses and an expanded bar experience.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR EXPANSION?
With an established London footprint and a fifth restaurant on the way, Din Tai Fung continues to develop its presence in the capital.

Finding the right location is about more than securing a prominent address – we are looking for destinations that complement the brand, connect with its customers and provide the right setting for its unique dining experience.

Rupert Bentley Smith acted for Din Tai Fung to secure Kings Cross, and is leading Din Tai Fung’s expansion across London. To discuss ideas and opportunities, please get in touch.

This week Karve opened in Victoria – the third location for the premium pilates studio that offers its clients everything from classes and coffee to a strong community.

Karve are my client within the tenant rep team, and I acted to bring them to Victoria. Other recent wellness operators the BGP team have brought to destinations across London and the UK include award winning fitness studio Blok, contrast therapy specialist Arc, smoothie brand Elevate, all Barry’s Bootcamp sites in London and throughout the UK and the sought after Marchon gym that opened in Victoria last month. What does that tell us? Well, apart from the fact that BGP has some amazing clients…..! It shows that wellness is no longer an add on to placemaking schemes. In fact in many mixed use developments; wellness businesses are becoming the anchor.

When it comes to London leasing, BGP was ahead of the wellness trend. We advised on some of the first and most progressive wellness tenant mixes, including the first ‘skyscraper gym’ within a building, BXR at 22 Bishopsgate as well as the first wellness village in London, Eccleston Yards established over 5 years ago.

Wellness operators, from gyms and strength studios to smoothie bars and saunas, are now a key element when creating a place that people want to travel to. They bring footfall daily, and – unlike dining consistently throughout the day, evening and weekends, while increasing dwell time. They create a community. In BGP’s recent panel discussion “How Well is Retail”, featuring White Rabbit and contrast therapy operator Arc Community CEO Chris Miller, he explained that the idea of Arc was as much about creating a community as a wellness concept. After all, the statistics on the lack of alcoholic drinks in young people speak for themselves – the pub is no longer the default place to meet and socialise, particularly for Gen Z. Instead, wellness studios and cafes are leaping into the (alcohol free) mixer. Gym and fitness concepts have proved incredibly good at creating these incredibly engaged communities, both online and in person – they have Instagram friendly studios, strong ‘community’ messaging and meet ups and events that extend far beyond the actual gym class.

The opportunity this presents for landlords is clear. Selecting a strong wellness operator for a scheme will help build long term loyalty for a destination and strong local engagement; while bringing 24/7 footfall to neighbouring businesses at the same time. Wellness is no longer an afterthought for landlords – its part of a habitual human lifestyle change. It’s a day to day essential for customers that is changing the way we approach placemaking.

Things are changing at Brent Cross.

The UK’s first indoor shopping centre opened its doors to customers in 1976, with the ribbon cut by King Charles III himself. Anchored by John Lewis, Apple and Fenwick’s, the centre offers nearly 914,000 sq ft of retail and hospitality and is North London’s most visited retail destination.

Today, Brent Cross is in the process of an incredible transformation. A new leisure offering is being revealed; at the end of last year, Padel Club and Social Sports brought a much needed sport offering to Brent Cross with the launch of 10 new padel courts, and negotiations are currently underway with some of the UK’s most exciting F&B operators.

And what about retail? A shift in the centre’s leasing strategy to draw in more aspirational operators is evident through recent openings. The hoardings are up, announcing the imminent arrival of a luxurious new Polo Ralph Lauren. Premium childcare apparel store Newbie has opened on the ground floor, shoe brand Geox and cult wellness brand Neom have opened their doors; and Gen Z favourite jewellery and accessories brand Lovisa’s upsize to a larger store will open soon. The openings form part of a wider strategy for Brent Cross to bring in a more progressive fashion and beauty offer, creating broad appeal for a wide age group ranging from teens and Gen Z to older customers.

The enormous opportunity at Brent Cross is obvious. The wider area is one of the most affluent in the UK, with 29% falling within the top 3 highest spending ACORN categories The catchment is set to be boosted by the 73 hectare Brent Cross Town development – under construction opposite the centre – which will deliver exceptional transport links, 6,700 new homes, 3 million square feet of office space and 50 acres of parks and green space to Brent Cross’s doorstep. It is anticipated to draw a huge increase in families and young people; transforming the area’s footfall in the process.

With so much happening and momentum set to continue throughout 2025, the transformation of Brent Cross has only just begun.

Bruce Gillingham Pollard, alongside Cushman and Wakefield, are appointed by Hammerson to handle Retail and F&B leasing for Brent Cross.

Victoria Street has experienced a metamorphosis in recent years. Take a wander down there today and you’ll discover a bustling hub of restaurants and bars, packed in among some of the capitals most in-demand ‘competitive socialising’ venues.  Recent crowd -drawing openings include Lane 7 and The Alchemist, joining the likes of Stix and Sushi, Timmy Green and Casa da Frango.Victoria Street’s position as one of the capital’s major social hubs will be cemented with this week’s first UK opening of the luxurious Parisian entertainment group BAM Karaoke Box. Housed in an incredible 10,000 square foot site with 22 private karaoke rooms, food from renowned chef Sabrina Gilda (ex Dorchester) and the uber-cool Bam Bam Bar, BAM is set to raise the bar not just for entertainment, but the whole hospitality and leisure scene in Victoria.

So how has Victoria Street transformed into a target for the world’s most innovative hospitality and leisure operators in the space of a few years?

The first major driver of change has come from an evolving office space landscape. According to the latest London Markets report, serviced offices account for 169,340 square foot in Victoria. But the occupancy of these offices has developed – once almost exclusively the home of civil servants, the area now hosts professional service companies and brands ranging from Bloomberg to Burberry. These businesses and their well paid staff represent a lot of valuable footfall – a fact not missed by hospitality and leisure brands.

Another key development for Victoria over the past 5 years has been transport. The £700 million Victoria Station Upgrade has improved links and ease navigating the area, with 45 million taps annually (April 2022-Mar 2023). With three tube lines, lots of bus routes and a revamped busy national station hosting the Gatwick Express, SW1 can now legitimately claim to be one of the best connected areas of London.

The shift in shopping patterns seen across London has also played a key role in the area’s changing dynamic. The demise of House of Fraser and closure of major fashion retailers in Victoria such as Hugo Boss are representative of the changing landscape for London’s retail picture – and highlight the potential opportunity for F&B and leisure.

We have managed Victoria Street for our client Landsec over the past decade. The launch of Nova  – the mixed use, three building development occupying the island site opposite Victoria station – in 2017 kick started the area’s F&B transformation, with The Rail House Café, Sticks n Sushi and Greenwood among the first lettings to draw the crowds.  A further vote of confidence came in the shape of The Ivy, which took over the former Jamie’s Italian site further down Victoria Street. High confidence in the wider area is also evident from Grosvenor’s reimagining of Belgravia and Buckingham Palace Road, and more recent investment from GAW Capital. But from a leisure perspective, it was the arrival and subsequent huge success of Flight Club in 2019 that provided the major endorsement to leisure brands looking for a central London location.

So where has this evolution left SW1?  Today, Victoria Street and the entire Nova development is fully let to a variety of premium leisure and hospitality operators. Lane 7 have opened with great success in the site adjacent to BAM, creating a footfall-driving entertainment hub. This – along with upcoming hospitality opportunities from the Portland House and Nova 2 redevelopment – make it clear that Victoria has a secure future as one of London’s top leisure and F&B destinations.

Charlotte Roberts is Head of London Retail at Bruce Gillingham Pollard.