Popeyes opens on Putney High Street at 11am today, in the unit Chicken Shop left behind.
It is one of six food sites around Putney changing this autumn. The biggest surprise is on Upper Richmond Road, where a shop that gave nothing away in August has turned out to be a burger bar.
Popeyes, 79-81 Putney High Street
The American fried chicken chain opens its doors at 11am. Chicken Shop’s closure in August came with Popeyes as the rumoured replacement, and the “Openin’ Soon” hoarding went up at the start of September. The window poster advertises its Chicken Cruncher meal at £4.49.
Like Spaceship below, it is listed by the Food Standards Agency as awaiting its first hygiene inspection.
Spaceship, 188 Upper Richmond Road
In August, Spaceship was a grey shopfront with a name and nothing else: no website, no menu, and an Uber Eats listing showing as closed since May. It is now open, a smash-burger and fried chicken bar with steel tables and stools inside.
A cheeseburger, two smash patties in a potato bun, is £9 and the house burger £10. Skin-on fries are £3, buttermilk chicken tenders £7, loaded chicken fries £8 and an Oreo shake £6. That cheeseburger costs about £4 less than a two-patty cheeseburger from Five Guys in Putney, comparing both on the delivery apps. All six were 30% off on Uber Eats at the start of this week.
Its first three Uber Eats customers gave it five stars, which is too few to tell you much yet. It delivers through Uber Eats and Deliveroo, and was open until 10pm on Monday. If you have a food allergy, ask in the shop: its Uber Eats listing says it cannot take allergy requests through the app.
Las Pampas, 22 Putney High Street
A banner for Las Pampas, an Argentine steakhouse, has gone up over the unit where Masala Odyssey was, promising an opening in early October. There’s work going on inside but at the moment it appeared limited to one man – making early October seem unlikely, but we shall see.
The agents are asking £90,000 a year for this troubled spot that has seen Byron Burger, Bone Daddies and a vintage clothing pop-up as earlier occupants. Here’s hoping Las Pampas can make this tricky spot work.
Ta Ke Sushi, 146-148 Putney High Street
Ta Ke’s signs are now up at the old Bill’s site, where the Ealing Japanese restaurant is moving in, as we reported in July. The main fascia carries its green bamboo emblem and “Ta Ke たけ SUSHI”, and the one beside it lists grilled dishes, sushi, ramen and bento in Japanese. One projecting sign reads 居酒屋, izakaya, a Japanese-style pub. Another reads “KTV”, the term used across East Asia for private karaoke rooms, though nothing yet confirms karaoke is on the menu. The council approved the signs on 7 August.
Below them, the shopfront is still behind the painted riverside murals put in by Positively Putney and since redone once if not twice – a sign of just how long this former Bill’s site has been closed. No opening date has been announced yet.
Nando’s, 148 Upper Richmond Road
Nando’s is undergoing a major renovation at the moment. Shut behind “Back soon, Putney” hoarding and scaffolding, the chain pencilled in up to £2m of work for September to December, and the council approved its new awning on 5 September. The hoarding gives no reopening date, and points diners to Nando’s Wandsworth in the meantime.
The Dynamo, Putney Bridge Road
In July, the Dynamo announced it would close at the end of August. And it did. The building is now being split in two. One half is being fitted out as a café, with new timber fencing and a gate beneath the old coffee, breakfasts and brunches sign. The other half is still behind reed screening and nothing has been announced for it.
Know what is going into the other half of the Dynamo, or when Las Pampas, Ta Ke and Nando’s open? Tell us: news@putney.news.
