A Conran café on every high street across London
With more than 50 restaurant launches to his name and his ninth decade looming, Sir Terence Conran could be forgiven for thinking he has nothing left to prove.
But the Godfather of the London dining scene has told the Standard that he is working on plans for a national chain inspired by the success of the Italian cafés started by his sister Priscilla and her husband Antonio Carluccio.
His vision is to put an English café on every high street in London, building on the success of his Albion café in Shoreditch.
The Albion specialises in dishes such as fish and chips and shepherd's pie and also tells its customers over Twitter when bread is out of the oven. It would be the first major chain offering only traditional British food.
Sir Terence, 78, has negotiated leases on sites for Albions in Victoria, Regent's Park and near Covent Garden to open next spring and early summer. He said: "Albion has really been such a smash hit in Shoreditch we really feel it is something that could work throughout London and beyond. I am taking a bit of guidance from what my sister's chain has achieved.
"If you look at Albion it is in many ways a British version of Carluccio's with a small shop and a café. But it makes bread instead of pasta and has well known British dishes on the menu. It is also a bit cheaper with an average spend of £10 to £12."
Carluccio's was launched in 1991 and has close to 50 branches. It opens outlets at the rate of five a year, although the Carluccios sold their shares for about £11million in 2005.
Sir Terence is also planning a second branch of the Albion's neighbour, the Boundary restaurant-hotel, in Holborn and another fine dining restaurant along the lines of his Fleet Street venture Lutyens.
Sir Terence, who still owns a 51 per cent stake in his former chain D&D, is putting £12 to £15million into the new openings. He said he has been "amazed" by the success of Albion and Boundary. The Boundary complex of restaurant, hotel and café is already taking in more than £100,000 a week.
It is 56 years since he opened his first restaurant, Soup Kitchen in the King's Road, which had London's second Gaggia coffee machine.
