Bar Rioja-owner opens two new London venues

By Hamish Graham

Published: 22 January, 2025

Camino, the Spanish tapas bar and restaurant whose portfolio includes Bar Rioja, a bar dedicated solely to wines from the region, is opening two new venues in Farringdon and Kings Cross.

Camino Farringdon and Victoria will have extensive wine lists overseen by Richard and Hannah Duffy Russo (pictured, right), head of drinks for the group. The wines will include those from leading bodegas as well as a selection of V.O.R.S sherries.

The restaurants will be situated in two former Ibérica restaurants with interior features originally designed by Lázaro Rosa-Violán Studio from Barcelona with Andalusian tiles and glass lanterns adoring the Farringdon restaurant.

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Camino founder Richard Bigg (pictured, left) is grateful for the opportunity to take on the central London sites:

"In December very sadly the Ibérica group fell into administration. All the premises had been very well designed and seeing the opportunity we managed to acquire two of the sites that we thought were in good locations: Farringdon, opening this afternoon [22 January], and another in Victoria opening in the coming weeks following some refurbishments works. This will bring the Camino portfolio to 5 sites, plus the existing Bar Rioja at King’s Cross," he said.

The Farringdon site will have 66 covers in the restaurant with 35 in the bar, while the Victoria venue will be a 100-cover restaurant with a 38-cover ground floor bar. The latter will also have a 48-cover terrace open in the warmer months. The group is also planning on opening another restaurant, Pintxito, later in the year.

"We had been planning a very small premises in Covent Garden slap by in the centre of London since late Autumn. This is likely to open around end of March or early April. It is dedicated to the delicious tiny bites known as pintxos (the Basque spelling of the Spanish word pincho) that are served in the region and which you will find dozens of in cities like Bilbao and San Sebastian."

Camino Farringdon on Turnmill Street will have a soft launch from Wednesday 22 January to Friday 24 January with 50% off food. It will fully launch on Monday 27 January. Camino Victoria will open in mid-February at Victoria’s Zig Zag building.

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