The Draft House is an interesting pub concept that only started last November in SW11 and has now opened it's third venue by Tower Bridge. The River Bar lived there previously and did much the same thing but now it all feels bigger, brighter, more professional and modern in a nice tradtional way. It's like Byron does the British pub with some pictures from Habitat thrown in.

The food menu is gastro-ish with plenty of burgers, bagels, fish & chips and a chicken breast with Dauphinoise potatoes which was nice enough but a touch square and will cost £12.75 once the 50% intro offer ends on Monday while a Rib-eye steak will be £18.50. The sight of the City across the river plus those expensive leather seats means prices are noticeably higher than Draft House's first pubs and in comparison to the service charge-less Zucca or a cheap but good Thai place nearby, it might be a bit high for lunch.


More Draft Houses are planned for upmarket areas around London just as soon as founder Charlie McVeigh can find suitable locations.

The Draft House, 206-208 Tower Bridge Road, SE1

Japanese Canteen are replacing their quite popular Indian fast food shop 'Curry' on Minories with the Burro Burrito brand which recently launched near St Paul's. A rapid make-over will mean that the new shop should open for business tomorrow (Wednesday) and there will soon be four City burrito places within a short walk of each other (Poncho No8, Flying Burrito and the forthcoming Tortilla). There's still a burrito gap around Bank for someone to fill.

Burro Burrito, 30-33 Minories, EC3N

Sausage & Mash have closed their restaurant in Leadenhall Market and sadly taken their big Carry On pictures with them. With Mother Mash serving much the same food just a short distance away, there probably wasn't a need for both and so Tortilla will be replacing sausages with burritos in what will be their fifth outlet. Once the extensive refurbishment is completed, there will be seating for 110 diners and more space outside on the pavement.

Tortilla, 28 Leadenhall Market, EC3

All Bar One hasn't done much for a long time, in fact it's a decade since their last opening, but the Mitchells & Butlers chain are now expanding again with a new wine bar at the top of Bishopsgate which replaces the dated Sir Paul Pinder pub that didn't look at home amongst the smart City offices. They should open on 13th September with some subtle changes to the brand design and food menu.

All Bar One, 175 Bishopsgate, EC2M