Canteen to open 5th site in London

British restaurant group Canteen is to launch its fifth site in London, with the opening of an outlet in Covent Garden in the spring. The group has taken over a site on the ground floor of the Lyceum theatre, which will open in May. It follows Canteen's six-month pop-up restaurant at Covent Garden Market, which launched last September. "Our expansion strategy has been highly considered and measured. This is the right time and, most importantly, the right site to expand the Canteen restaurant group," said co-founder Dominic Lake. Co-founder Patrick Clayton-Malone added: "It's exciting to be part of a new wave of high-quality eateries that have recently opened in Covent Garden and to be able to serve our Great British Food to Londoners, theatre-goers and an international audience." Last year, Canteen announced plans to expand its business across London and grow up to 15 sites in the next five years. Canteen was founded by Cass Titcombe, Clayton-Malone and Lake in 2005 when the group launched its first site in Spitalfields. A second restaurant at the Royal Festival Hall on London's South Bank followed in 2007 and further sites in Baker Street and Canary Wharf opened in 2009.