Wagamama to open in Watford's new Met Quarter

4:10pm Tuesday 20th November 2012 in News

The first of a raft of new restaurants in a redeveloped area of Watford will open tomorrow.

Wagamama, with its Japanese-inspired menu, will open its doors for the first time in the "Met Quarter", an area located at the junction of High Street and King Street.

It will be followed by Zizzi, Carluccios, Chimichanga, Nando’s and Jimmy’s World Grill and Bar.

The new Wagamama restaurant has created 39 new jobs, and chefs anticipate getting through more than half a tonne of noodles in the first month of opening.

Ingrid Williamson, director of marketing, said: "We are thrilled to be expanding further. The Met Quarter is a fantastic new location to be in and we look forward to welcoming both new and existing noodles fans to the restaurant"

Comments(9)

WatfordBandB says...
4:58pm Tue 20 Nov 12

This new development does look quite nice but I am very scared for Mc Donalds because they may loose revenue and that thought upsets me

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TRT says...
5:03pm Tue 20 Nov 12

I take it the WO website stripped out the sarcasm tags in your comment, WatfordBandB. :D

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fugu says...
7:55am Wed 21 Nov 12

Total spending in restaurants is down so I'm dubious of claims of jobs "created". Money spent in this chain of restaurants is money not spent in an independent. I thought the top end of the high street was meant to be the cafe and restaurant area. When did that plan get abandoned?

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TRT says...
9:36am Wed 21 Nov 12

A few years ago when they discovered that many people were put off going to the restaurants in the Parade by the "alcohol" culture dominating that part of town and as a result of incidents of drink-fuelled agression and anti-social behaviour in that part of town.

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ChunkeyMonkey says...
9:43am Wed 21 Nov 12

I think the philosophy was to create a location for quality restaurants in what was a run down part of town separate from the pub / club culture area at the other end of the High Street. Whilst Wagamama, et al are not "independents" they are successful restaurant operators around the country which means that they know what they are doing and actually are probably less likely to fail than a small independent. I think Watford needed something better than what was on offer previously.

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abbotshornet says...
12:15pm Wed 21 Nov 12

More choice sounds good, punters want to know what they are getting for their hard earned money, that's why these chains are still doing well over independant venues who can be hit or miss.

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LSC says...
2:23pm Wed 21 Nov 12

ChunkeyMonkey wrote:
I think the philosophy was to create a location for quality restaurants in what was a run down part of town separate from the pub / club culture area at the other end of the High Street. Whilst Wagamama, et al are not "independents" they are successful restaurant operators around the country which means that they know what they are doing and actually are probably less likely to fail than a small independent. I think Watford needed something better than what was on offer previously.
Quite a few of this type of resteraunts are done on a franchise basis, so profits might remain local.

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ChunkeyMonkey says...
5:03pm Wed 21 Nov 12

I think Wags own all their units in the UK, but irrespective of this, it's 39 or however many new jobs which is a boost and with the other operators opening soon, this has to be good news for a site that has laid derelict and vacant for how long, close on a decade?

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fugu says...
8:25am Thu 22 Nov 12

Wagamama have 82 restaurants in the UK and expect to open about 20 more in the next year. They started a much more aggressive expansion after being purchased by Duke Street (who own other chain businesses) and employing an ex-head of McDonalds. Some people get excited about their food but it's just watered down Japanese style food for timid Brits. The recent Sushi additions to their menu are better and cheaper in Watford market, and you'll help keep the market's fishmongers in business too.

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