Nine new restaurants and hotels to visit in 2024

Start filling your 2024 calendar with bookings at these new restaurants and hotels in the South West

Prime by Pasture, Bristol

The beef gods behind Bristol’s favourite steak restaurant will launch a capacious new butchery, deli, cookery school and burger joint in the Redcliffe Quarter in early 2024. Building on the success of his six other venues (two in Bristol, three in Cardiff and the latest opening in Birmingham), founder and former Jamie Oliver chef Sam Elliott will continue to focus on serving beef from regenerative South West farms and fresh produce from the restaurant group’s own farm in Long Ashton.

The venue on the corner of St Thomas Street and Cross Street will host 75 covers in the restaurant, leading onto an adjoining deli and butchery where customers can purchase homemade sauces, marinades and rubs as well as produce from the farm. In 2025, guests will even be able to buy wine from the Pasture vineyard (also in Long Ashton).

TreeDwellers, Cotswolds

There’s been a renewed appreciation of being in nature since the pandemic kept everyone at home – and hotels have taken note of the trend. Luxury treehouse accommodation has been the must-have accessory for Cotswolds country houses over the past few years, but this new project near Chipping Norton sees it rolled out on a grand scale.

Due to open in March 2024, TreeDwellers is collection of seven bespoke treehouses hidden within 1,700 acres of ancient woodland on the Cornbury Park Estate. The curved structures elevated a few feet from the forest floor look more like futuristic spaceships than five-star accommodation, yet each is furnished with gorgeous Scandi-style furniture and decked out with little luxuries such as wood-burning stoves, free-standing tubs and hampers of local goodies. Arguably the coolest feature is the 9ft ‘forest megaphone’ which enables guests to bathe in the sounds of this natural environment. 

1 York Place, Bristol

This new restaurant from Freddy and Ness Bird of Little French fame opened the week before Christmas. Snapping up a piece of prime real estate in bougie Clifton Village, the husband-and-wife duo have created the kind of buzzy neighbourhood restaurant everyone wishes they had down the road. 

While Little French hones in on French cuisine (who’d have guessed?), at 1 York Place chef Freddy has cast the net a little wider to curate a menu of modern European dishes. The food is inspired by his experience working in restaurants such as two-Michelin-starred The Square in Mayfair and Moro in Clerkenwell, so expect creative yet refined dishes crafted with seasonal South West produce.

Lula, Cornwall

This popular seafood shack started out in Hayle in 2020. Its unique clash of Cornish, Creole and Floridian food cultures quickly gained attention from locals and holidaymakers, who queued for any length of time to get their hands on Lula’s lobster and crayfish macaroni cheese, buttermilk chicken and cajun-spiced squid.

In 2023, the original venue closed abruptly due to reasons beyond founder Sam Sheffield’s control. Thankfully, he soon found a new home within The Rockpool Bar in Gwithian. However, Hayle locals will be happy to hear Lula will return to the seaside town in 2024. The location and opening date of the second venue (the Gwithian outpost is staying put) are still under wraps, but follow the shack on Instagram to be one of the first to get the deets.

No 14, Ashburton

Emilia, the Ashburton osteria from Clare Lattin and Tom Hill of London’s Ducksoup, was one of Devon’s most talked about restaurants when it opened in 2022. It’s been such a success that this sister venue followed less than two years later.

No.14 launched in November 2023 on North Street, adding ‘a touch of Parisian charm’ to the foodie town on the fringes of Dartmoor. More wine bar than restaurant, its focus is a daily changing by-the-glass wine list, supplemented by a short bill of small plates such as local cheeses, pickles and charcuterie.   

Teffont House, Wiltshire

The team behind luxury restaurant and inn collective Beckford Group are due to launch another must-visit venue in 2024. Last year, it was announced they had taken over the former Howard’s House Hotel in Teffont Evias, Wiltshire, and had grand plans to unleash their signature style on the 17^th-century building.

The refurbishment agenda includes a new orangery dining room and the addition of a mini garden spa stocked with own-brand Bramley products. The 17-room ensuite hotel and restaurant is due to open in September.

Number One, Bruton

After a four year partnership with Number One Bruton, in early 2024 Merlin Labron-Johnson will relocate his Michelin-starred restaurant to the outskirts of the Somerset town. The space will be used by the Georgian townhouse hotel to launch a new restaurant, due to open in March. The team are currently keeping their plans close to their chests but we expect delicious things.

If that wasn’t enough to keep owners Aled Rees and Claudia Waddams busy, Number One recently took over the ancient pub next door. Plans for the space include five new bedrooms which will launch this summer.

The Wellington Arms, Wiltshire

TV chef Max Halley and publican chum Ethan Davids are on a mission to revive the great British boozer. Moving away from the gastropub mould, the duo deal in proper pubs that serve local ales in handle glasses, pickled eggs and packets of Scampi Fries.

The Wellington Arms in Marlborough is the latest addition to Max and Ethan’s stable of three classic pubs. They acquired the Grade II-listed building in autumn 2023 and gave it a conscious facelift before reopening the doors in November. Expect plenty of cosy corners to enjoy a pint and a hot sausage roll, or join the locals propping up the L-shaped bar.

Hotel Gotham, Bristol

A popular haunt among celebrities such as Robbie Williams, Simon Cowell and Jennifer Hudson, Manchester’s Hotel Gotham will welcome a sister venue in Bristol in autumn 2024. The luxury 80-bedroom hotel will be housed in the stunning 13^th-century Guildhall on Small Street, a building that was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 2020.

Plans for the glitzy five-star hotel include a spa, restaurant and rooftop terrace for evening drinks with views of the city.

Like discovering new dining experiences? Check out our reviews of the region’s best restaurants.