An exciting new all day culinary space is coming to King’s Cross early next year with Ben Lovett from Mumford & Sons’ heading up the group in charge of the site.
The Courtyard at Goods Way is scheduled to open in late February 2020, with the venue providing just the latest example of the incredible transformation of the area.
The site, which is tucked away behind the station on Goods Way, is envisaged very much as a dual purpose space, with both the food and the music sharing top billing. To that end, the Courtyard will have its own music venue (Lafayette) and a late night “New Orleans inspired bar” called Sweetwater.
Foodwise, the site will play host to a “small, carefully curated selection of fast-rising and experienced chefs and exciting new dining enterprises” with the popular Breddos Tacos and Spitalfields’ the Duck Truck already on board.
The inclusion of Lovett in the new venture is particularly intriguing. A founder member of Mumford and Sons, the musician is also an unashamed foodie. As much as he loves his food however, the keyboard player has a much more fundamental reason for taking an interest in what he is eating.
That’s because Lovett is also a nut allergy sufferer, with a history of anaphylactic shocks due to eating contaminated foods. The allergy has forced the pop star to take a much greater interest in what he is eating. “The best example I could give,” he told the Daily Telegraph recently: “is imagine if they said to you: ‘we’ll do everything we can to make sure there’s no arsenic in your food, but there’s a chance there might be.'”
This need for dietary certainty has encouraged the star to begin investing in his own restaurants.
Lovett backed his friend Lucy Pedder when she opened Lupins near London Bridge. The restaurant offers a range of seasonal small plates however, most crucially, it is totally nut-free.
Lovett also invested in the recently opened Flat Iron Square, along with a consortium of friends who have become known as the Venue Group. The site has grown to become one of South London’s most successful food markets.
Now, Lovett has followed up those two successes with a major role in what will surely become one of London’s hippest foodie destination.
Lovett says of the new site: “In a world that seems increasingly obsessed with perception over substance, or digital over analogue, there are few more honest experiences than live music and eating fresh food from a small, independent and passionate operator.
The Courtyard at Goods Way will open in late February 2020.
