- Four new distinct food and drink destinations are launching alongside London Museum’s opening at its new Smithfield site on 28th November 2026
- Green & Fortune will work in partnership with Robin Gill as Food Curator, collaborating with Chef Director Dan Rampat on the culinary direction across all four venues
- New openings include flagship restaurant, Clerks House at London Museum, Bartholomew’s bar, the Temperance Cocoa Rooms café and The Roost, an incubator space with a rotating residency of London’s up and coming talent.
- Green & Fortune will collaborate with Mr Lyan Studio, working alongside Head of Beverage Joe Boxall on the Bartholomew’s drinks proposition, inspired by London Museum’s permanent galleries and temporary exhibitions.
- Dining and drinking at London Museum is set to represent the capital’s food scene, ensuring food and drink is a key component of the museum experience.
Food curator Robin Gill will oversee the culinary direction across all four concepts alongside Green & Fortune Chef Director, Dan Rampat, including Clerks House at London Museum, a new all-day dining room; Bartholomew’s, a bar featuring a London inspired beverage programme with cocktails by Mr Lyan Studio; the Temperance Cocoa Rooms, a café open daily with extended 24 hour opening from Thursday to Sunday; and The Roost, a rotating residency space dedicated to showcasing some of the city’s most exciting talent.
Green & Fortune’s Chief Executive, John Nugent comments
“The ambition of London Museum will be matched by a hospitality offering and programme unseen in London. The Green & Fortune team, together with our collaborators, Robin Gill and Mr Lyan Studio will collectively create authentic London food and drink experiences for both museum visitors and Londoners alike. Making food and drink, not just part of the experience, but a reason to visit.
We are a proud, deep rooted London business and are embracing the opportunity to develop a selection of new and refreshingly different locations in the museum, that will shift the dial in what galleries and museums offer.
It is a tremendously purposeful project, and we are proud to be playing our part in it. Over the coming months we will share more details about what people can expect, make sure to watch this space.”
The opening of London Museum in Smithfield completes a decade-long restoration of the Victorian General Market, returning the disused historic building to public use for the first time in over three decades. Located throughout the museum, many of the venues also feature street entrances as well as access through the museum. The venues celebrate London’s food culture past and present – from pie shops and oyster bars to late-night cafés, bakery counters and modern street food.
The interiors, designed by Russell Sage Studio in partnership with Green & Fortune, will blend restored original features with contemporary design, creating an interior language for each space that is authentic and rooted, harmonious with the ethos of London Museum and the needs of its visitors.
Expected to welcome more than two million visitors annually, London Museum’s new Smithfield site is one of the capital’s most anticipated cultural openings – with food and drink set to play a central role in the visitor experience.
Robin Gill comments
“At London Museum, the food alone will be a reason to visit. Working with Green & Fortune we want to curate an experience that reflects the vibrancy of London and tell London’s story through food. We’ll be partnering with the best London producers and nurturing up-and-coming talent in the capital which is an exciting proposition. Bring on 28th November!”
Nathan Lamb, Director of Experience and Enterprise at London Museum, added
“Food is how London meets. Over a table to share plates and opinions, a coffee to catch up with friends, or a drink before the music starts. In the museum, we will offer four distinct experiences that give people both a place and a reason to come together. Working with Green & Fortune, alongside Robin Gill and Mr Lyan Studio, it will be part of how we tell London’s story, drawing on Smithfield’s legacy as a place that has fed and entertained Londoners for close to a thousand years.”
Clerks House will be Smithfield’s new all-day dining room and bistro rooted in London’s culinary history. Located in the heart of Our Time on the General Market ground floor, the 140-cover restaurant will celebrate seasonal produce, craft and skill alongside the cultural influences that define London’s food scene. Serving breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner, alongside weekend brunch and Sunday roasts, the food is nostalgic without being dated. Comforting and thoughtful.
Celebrating the history of the market, menus will feature beef and lamb from Green & Fortune’s own farm and pies curated by Robin Gill. Guests can expect dishes such as such as ‘Mutton stew with barley, root vegetables and fresh herbs’ and a take on the traditional ‘Billingsgate sandwich’ – hand dived scallop, crispy smoked bacon, scallop roe butter.’ There will be a range of seasonal plant-based dishes, and smaller portions of main dishes for young visitors. A weekly changing selection of wines by the glass will showcase a cohesion of old and new world and skin-contact wines from small growers.
Clerks House will also host a monthly ticketed dinner club alongside other one-off events and will be available for private hire.
Bartholomew’s is a contemporary London bar inspired by the energy of the city, and drawing its name from London’s original summer festival, Bartholomew Fair, held in Smithfield for over seven centuries.
An evolving cocktail menu will be curated by industry pioneer Mr Lyan Studio, riffing on London Museum’s seasonal events and displays. The first seasonal menu will take inspiration from the museum’s inaugural programme London Tastes, celebrating the city’s rich and vibrant food culture, and the history and stories behind it. There will be a permanent London Made cocktail menu which takes its creative cue from the grit & glitter of London’s story, past and present. Plus, a signature seasonal shandy serve and a draught London Museum lager.
Located in a prominent position on Farringdon Road on the perimeter of the museum, Bartholomew’s is set to be a lively street-side destination for after-work drinks and museum pit-stops throughout the day. The bar is designed to be welcoming and approachable, with food focussing on elevated pub classics and snacks.
The interior design captures the changing colours of the day, blurring the boundary between inside and out as it draws inspiration from the movement, energy and rhythm of the London streets. The result is a contemporary interpretation of the classic hostelry that reflects the vibrancy and character of the city.
A rare historic survival rediscovered during the museum’s renovation, the former Lockhart’s Cocoa Rooms will return to its temperance roots as a sober socialising space for the city. Adding a modern twist to the original menu, the Temperance Cocoa Rooms cafe will serve customisable hot chocolates, a bespoke recipe ginger beer, coffee mocktails, and a late-night float menu.
Open daily, it will operate round-the-clock hours from Thursday- Sunday to echo the 24hr rhythm of the city. It will be a place where early risers, night owls and post-service crowds can converge. A tee-total meet up space, with room to host community clubs, intimate events and talks.
Food will include pastries, hot carved breakfast and lunch sandwiches, toasties and soups. A signature tamarind and date spiced Chelsea bun will nod to the history of London’s spice trade and global flavours that continue to shape the capital. Coffee will be sourced from Peckham’s Old Spike.
Lockhart’s Cocoa Rooms emerged in the 1870s as part of the temperance movement. It was a commercial venture offering an alcohol-free alternative to public houses for working men. Beginning in the north of England, they quickly expanded to and across London. From its corner of the Smithfield General Market, the Lockheart’s Cocoa Rooms served market workers for 40 years.
Architectural features of the space will be retained, including Edwardian Art Nouveau style ceramic tiles with yellow buttercup designs, which were uncovered during the renovation. The design of the two-floor space will take care to reference the tangible and visible heritage of the building, while creating a comfortable modern space for visitors.
The Roost is the creative hub, where some of the city’s best street-food concepts will pop-up for up to 6-month periods. Built to nurture emerging talent with a platform and space to bring their ideas, menus and stories to Londoners.
Details on The Roost’s first residency will be released in the coming months. After this, future residents will be chosen through a competitive process, with a judging panel featuring Robin Gill and Green & Fortune’s Chef Director Dan Rampat, alongside guest judges.
Each resident will win the opportunity to use The Roost as a test kitchen for their product which will be a take-away format in the day, transforming into an intimate evening offering for up to 14 diners. While in residence, the successful chef will be given mentorship from Green & Fortune’s John Nugent and Robin Gill to run and develop the business, including menu development, marketing, operational and financial guidance.
This space is designed to be a place of change and exchange, having the flexibility to adapt dependent on the resident at the time, allowing them to add their own identity.
About Green & Fortune at London Museum
Following a competitive tender process, the 10-year contract will see Green & Fortune collaborate with London Museum on four innovative and creative new hospitality spaces, ranging from relaxed all-day dining, cafe and grab-and-go formats, to a curated culinary events programme. The collaboration will put London’s incredible food scene at the heart of the museum’s new home in Smithfield. Green & Fortune are also the exclusive catering partner for the museum’s commercial venue hire events.
Following a decade of careful renovation, the iconic Victorian General Market is set to become one of the most sought-after spaces in the capital. Spanning 150,000 square foot it will have capacity to host both intimate and large-scale private events including gala dinners, drinks receptions, product launches, and high-profile celebrations.
About the Collaborators
Robin Gill made his mark in London through restaurants like The Dairy and Darby’s, where he set a benchmark for meticulously crafted, seasonal food, infused with conviviality and a deep respect for producers. Irish-born but London-made, his food carries both comfort and curiosity.
Beyond the kitchen, Robin’s creativity extends to television, cookbooks and events, including Bloodshot Supper Club, his legendary late-night feast for chefs. Based in Brixton, he joins Green & Fortune as food curator, handpicking the best food and drink London has to offer.
Mr Lyan Studio is a strategic consultancy for drinks and hospitality. Founded in January 2015 by Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan), Mr Lyan Studio uses strategy and storytelling to deliver uncommon solutions – creating desire and unlocking growth for brands. This work has included product development, drinks consultancy and brand strategy.
Described by the Evening Standard as someone who has “done more to change the landscape of London than most MPs,” Ryan brings creativity, sustainability and a sense of fun to all his projects. His original bar, White Lyan was the first in the world to use no perishables – no fruit or even ice – while his current London venues include Seed Library, and the award winning Lyaness, at Sea Containers London.
Notes to Editors
For more information about the new London Museum, please see https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/smithfield/here.
About Green & Fortune
Green & Fortune is an award-winning hospitality company, known for its ability to create unique culinary and cultural destinations within multi-format sites. B Corp-Certified, Green & Fortune is committed to creating and regenerating unique culinary and cultural spaces across London. Not your everyday caterer, Green & Fortune operates across the full hospitality spectrum bringing spaces both old and new to life through creative cafes, restaurants, bars, private dining, workplace dining and large-scale events & programming – all with the aim of driving a sense of community and place across the city.
Green & Fortune was founded in 2008 by John Nugent and Peter Millican, and was then the first restaurant and hospitality company to launch in King’s Cross, and instrumental to the area’s major redevelopment plan. The company now operates across seven London with outlets including Rotunda Bar and Restaurant, Sea Containers Events, Rose Court Events, Kings Place Events and London Museum Docklands as well as Green & Fortune Cafés, delivering excellence in events, staff dining, and retail catering. John and Peter are also co-owners and founders of Daffodil Mulligan and Gibney’s London, an award-winning restaurant and bar near Old Street, London and Edinburgh’s Patina bakery.
Green & Fortune is committed to sustainable and ethical operations: including sourcing beef from its own farm in Northumberland, and championing fair employment practices. Green & Fortune has been a beyond London Living Wage employer since 2021, with long-term partnerships to support young people into sustained employment. John Nugent also chairs an annual charity fundraiser in aid of Hospitality Action, The London Irish Centre and The Clink, which has raised over £355,000 since its inception 2019.
About London Museum
London Museum is London’s shared place in the middle of it all. No matter where you’ve come from, how long you’re staying for, or what side of the river you live on, we offer a home for exploration and adventure where all of London’s stories cross and collide. At our heart we’re a social history museum and we tell the stories of how London came to be. But we’re also contemporary collectors keeping our finger on the pulse. We’re the world’s biggest city museum. At the core of London Museum is our collection, which covers 450,000 years of history through seven million objects drawn from across all 33 boroughs. It’s the largest collection in the world relating to a single urban centre.
https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/.
Further Information
- London Museum is transforming two former market buildings in the City of London, the historic heart of the capital. It is one of the most ambitious cultural redevelopments of the coming decade and will play a key role in the transformation of Smithfield into a vibrant new cultural quarter for the city.
- The formerly derelict Victorian General Market will open in 2026 as home to the museum’s permanent galleries, cafe, retail and event spaces. The adjacent Poultry Market, set to house the museum’s world-class learning centre, temporary exhibition spaces and collection stores, will open in 2028.
- London Museum is designed by Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, working with conservation architects Julian Harrap. It is an exemplar in sustainability and on track to become amongst 1% of buildings worldwide to achieve ‘Outstanding’ rating by BREAAM.
- The £437m project has been developed through a unique partnership between the City of London Corporation and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, alongside support from a range of philanthropic supporters including Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Goldsmiths’ Foundation, The Linbury Trust and The National Lottery Heritage Fund. A number of individual philanthropists and charitable trusts have also pledged significant support to the project. Global law firm DLA Piper is the project’s inaugural Corporate Founder.
- The launch of the new museum will mark a new chapter for Smithfield, one of the city’s oldest markets, where trading has taken place for almost a millennium. The market buildings were designed by Sir Horace Jones in the 1800s, with the General Market closing in the 1990s. More about the history of Smithfield is available here and here
- London Tastes (November 2026 – August 2027) is the museum’s inaugural day-to-night programme of events and experiences in Our Time. Co-curated by Ruby Tandoh and Jonathan Nunn, and sponsored by Sainsbury’s, it will celebrate London’s rich and vibrant food culture through a spotlight exhibition, house parties, Shared Late Nights, family events and dinner clubs, as well as influencing the museum’s shop and menus in Bartholomew’s bar and Clerks House restaurant.