Le Chocolat Alain Ducasse is opening a new London store at Borough Yards, South London’s newest retail, office, leisure, and food and drink district.
The globally-renowned chef operates almost 30 chocolate shops across France and London, with stores in the capital located in Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, and Oxford Street’s Selfridges. The Borough Yards store will occupy 1,400sq ft of space and serve chocolate and ice cream manufactured from the in-store kitchen – in what is a London first for Alain Ducasse, and based on their La Manufacture concept in Paris.
Borough Yards was developed by leading pan-European investment manager MARK, which manages over £8.75bn of assets across Europe. The London-based firm was behind the redevelopment of Burlington Arcade, the UK’s longest-covered high street, signing up a swathe of Chanel-owned labels as well as other well-known luxury brands. It is also redeveloping the iconic The Whiteley building as part of the wider Queensway parade regeneration.
James Bell of Gillingham Bell said: “Mr Ducasse’s Manufacture de chocolat was born from his desire to get to the roots and the true essence of what makes chocolate: the work of a craftsman. Given the rich food and craftmanship heritage of Borough Market, it was a natural fit when considering location plus there was a perfect connection between the first La Manufacture in Paris with its authentic, raw, discordant decor and Borough Yard’s combination of the old and new buildings.”
