Charlie Sims, Honey Spencer, and Spencer Large, the team behind Hackney restaurant Sune, are set to open a new pub and restaurant in Smithfield Market this November as part of the site's redevelopment. Located on the premises once occupied by Bubb’s Le Restaurant Francais, the establishment will feature dishes like prawn scotch egg and smoked eel caesar salad, with glasses of wine starting at £8 and pints of Guinness priced at £7.50. The pub aims to feel like a traditional British boozer, with dim lighting, wooden panelling, and historical touches reflecting its Victorian heritage.
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Story summary
The team behind Hackney restaurant Sune, consisting of Charlie Sims, Honey Spencer, and Spencer Large, is set to open a new pub and restaurant in Smithfield General Market in November. The project is part of the ongoing decade-long redevelopment of Smithfield and will coincide with the opening of the new £70m London Museum. The site once housed Bubb’s Le Restaurant Francais, made famous by the 1997 film Spice World.
The pub and dining room will feature food and wine curated by Sims and Spencer, along with executive chef Charlie Taylor from Simon Rogan's Michelin-starred restaurant Aulis. Menu items include a prawn scotch egg with Scampi fries, smoked eel caesar salad, fallow deer and juniper suet pudding, and Guinness ice cream swiss roll. The space is designed to be "a proper boozer," divided into a lounge bar, saloon bar, and snug area.
Spencer expressed both nervousness and excitement about the new venture, emphasizing their commitment to creating an authentic pub experience in the heart of London's historic Smithfield Market.
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The team behind Hackney restaurant Sune will open a new pub and restaurant in Smithfield Market in November, The Standard can reveal.
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Standard → open → November
Husband and wife team Charlie Sims and Honey Spencer, together with business partner Spencer Large, have taken on a site at Smithfield General Market, part of a decade-long redevelopment and will open in tandem with the new £70m London Museum.
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Sims → take → Museum
The trio have taken on the part of the building that once housed Bubb’s Le Restaurant Francais, a historic bistro made famous in the 1997 film Spice World (as Le Rendezvous), and a number of former wholesale shops and storehouses.
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that → take → shops
Food and wine will be overseen by Spencer and Sims, as well as incoming executive chef Charlie Taylor, who joins from Simon Rogan’s Michelin-starred London restaurant Aulis.
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who → oversee → restaurant
Taylor told The Standard that dishes will include a prawn scotch egg made with Scampi fries, smoked eel caesar salad, a fallow deer and juniper suet pudding, and a Guinness ice cream swiss roll.
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dishes → tell → fries
These will be available in the pub and dining room, which has been designed to “be a proper boozer”, Spencer said, and divided into a lounge bar, a saloon bar, and a snug.
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“We feel nervous and excited,” Spencer, who also looks after the wine list in Eurostar’s premier carriages, told the Standard.
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who → feel → Standard
“We’re daunted, but it’s good to be daunted.
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There’s energy to the project, and it’s a big one, with a lot of responsibility.
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We’re so proud of Sune (which will continue) but it was never going to sustain us all.
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We always wanted to open something bigger, more ambitious.
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We also want to make the place super accessible.
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We’ll be making our own house wine and we want the place to feel like it’s been there forever — not so much like a JKS sort of model.
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it → make → model
Glasses of wine will start at around £8, while a pint of Guinness will cost £7.50; smaller dishes will float around £10 and mains will start from £20, though there’ll be pricier whole fish and premium cuts of meat too.
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mains → start → meat
Inside, the pub features dark wooden panelling, upcycled tables and chairs, exposed brick and old photographs.
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pub → feature → panelling
The lighting will be dim, almost Dickensian, harking back to the building’s Victorian roots.
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lighting → hark → roots
The team said the plan is to also be accessible.
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plan → say → ?
“We’re so proud of Sune but it was never going to sustain us all”
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it → ’re → us
Sims said: “When we first saw the building, we just thought it was incredible — an imposing entrance, big pillars, and lots of quiet corners and nooks inside.
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it → say → corners
It has so much character.
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It lends itself to a bustling pub, and is geared up for proper vertical drinking.
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I think it has personality and our job is to make sure it has an identity.”
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has → think → identity
Sims said as well as the bistro, the site was home to a tailor’s, a dairy shop, and a grocery.
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site → say → tailor
It's expansive, with more parts of the building to be converted into further spaces next year.
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parts → convert → spaces
The original sign to Bubb’s, a projecting yellow block with bold black lettering, is believed to still exist, the last surviving relic of the venue that came before.
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It is possibly under the guardianship of a man called Richard, who got married there in the late 1990s.
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who → call → 1990s
The Poet will open in November; The Poet, House 5 London Museum, General Market, Farringdon Street, EC4A 4AZ
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Poet → open → November
The Aporia
