Opens in a new tab
icon / 24x24 / ic24-trending-up

Most searched right now

Incipio Group opens ‘UK’s largest’ Italian restaurant

3 Min. reading time
fresh pasta nests with cherry tomatoes

Incipio Group will open Juno, a 265-cover Italian restaurant it is billing as the UK’s largest, at London’s Olympia estate on 16 October 2026. The venue occupies part of the Grade II-listed National Hall and is one of four Incipio Group restaurants forming the group’s food and drink offer at the redeveloped site.


Juno will seat 265 covers with room for up to 500 guests including standing space, across an 11,500 sq ft unit within Incipio Group’s wider 39,000 sq ft food and drink allocation at Olympia. The restaurant includes a dedicated 10-seat Pizza Napoletana counter served by three pizza chefs and one of only two ovens of its size in the UK, an electric Zanolli AVGSTO capable of producing up to 300 pizzas an hour. Ed Devenport, chief executive of Incipio Group, said Juno is “a significant opening for Incipio Group and one that we have approached with real ambition.”

Juno joins Wolves of Tokyo, Lillies and Arbour as the four Incipio Group restaurants opening within Olympia’s wider redevelopment, a west London scheme reported to represent around £1.3 billion of investment across the site. The National Hall, a Grade II-listed exhibition space, has been converted to house part of the venue’s food and drink offer alongside new event space. Incipio Group has not disclosed how much it is investing in Juno itself, or in the other three restaurants opening alongside it, figures that franchised operators can benchmark against published guidance on what it costs to open a franchise in the UK.

The description of Juno as the UK’s largest Italian restaurant is Incipio Group’s own characterisation, based on its 500-guest capacity; no independent count of comparable Italian restaurants nationally has been published. The venue is set to trade daily from midday to 11pm, with a team of around 50 staff once it reaches full capacity. Electric ovens capable of the temperatures needed for Neapolitan-style pizza, such as the Zanolli model installed at Juno, remain uncommon among UK operators, most of whom still rely on wood or gas-fired designs. Equipment specification at this scale is one of the larger fixed costs in opening a restaurant in the UK, whether independently or under a brand agreement.

Good to know

A “cover” is UK hospitality shorthand for one seated diner at a table, distinct from a venue’s total capacity, which can include standing and event space. Juno’s 265 covers sit inside a wider 500-guest capacity.

Incipio Group operates its restaurants as a company-owned portfolio rather than as a franchise network, a distinction set out in our guide to how franchising works in the UK, and the Olympia opening adds four sites to that estate within a single development. It illustrates a pattern increasingly visible across UK hospitality, in which multi-site groups cluster several brands inside one large-scale regeneration scheme rather than opening standalone units street by street. Devenport’s description of Juno as approached “with real ambition” points to the venue being positioned as the group’s most prominent launch of the year.

Juno is scheduled to open on 16 October 2026, alongside the continuing rollout of Olympia’s wider redevelopment, which is expected to bring further restaurants, hotel space and event venues online in stages. How the venue trades once it beds in, and whether Incipio Group later discloses turnover or investment figures specific to Juno, will shape how closely rivals in London’s competitive Italian dining market watch the opening. Operators looking at the sector from the other side can compare restaurant franchises recruiting in the UK.

You may also like

taco bell storefront at night with customers
Taco Bell franchisee Campana plans 50 UK sites by 2029

Campana, a Taco Bell franchisee within the SYMBRO Group, plans ...

morrisons supermarket at night, illuminated sign
Morrisons Daily has about 700 franchise sites and targets hundreds more

Morrisons ran about 700 franchise sites among more than 1,700 ...

elegant espresso cup with heart latte art
Costa plans up to 40 more drive-thru sites in 2026

Costa Coffee plans up to 40 more drive-thru sites in ...

salted pretzel held on a city street
Greggs plans 120 net new shops after franchise estate reaches 602

Greggs ended 2025 with 602 franchise shops in an estate ...

colorful mixed salad in wooden bowl
Bewliehill enters administration and closes its last two London sites

Seasonal food-to-go concept Bewliehill has closed its last two London ...

branded beer taps in stylish pub bar
BBPA warns 360 pubs will close in 2026, about one a day

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) expects about 360 ...

gold ring fitting at jewellery counter
Ramsdens holds profit guidance and opens 10 stores in the year

Ramsdens Holdings expects pre-tax profit of £32m to £35m for ...

industrial warehouse aisles with pallets and boxes
John Lewis chair warns warehouse tax would hit high street shops

John Lewis Partnership chair Jason Tarry has joined other retail ...

business handshake over a table
Martin Property Group emerges as frontrunner in Poundland rescue talks

Derry-based Martin Property Group is reportedly the preferred backer of ...

crypto trading chart in sharp downtrend
KFC, Costa and Pizza Hut operator’s profit lifted by £35m property gain

SME Group PLC, the Ruislip-based group whose profile lists KFC, ...