Early dinner, smaller bills: this is the new eating out

EVEN for a famously hard grafter like Jason Atherton, it is going to be a gruelling autumn.

- Jonathan Prynn

The chef who spent part of his childhood growing up in a caravan in Skegness will be opening restaurants numbers 30, 31 and 32 in an illustrious career that has brought him Michelin stars, wealth and TV fame.

Next month sees the launch of his "best of British" venue, Sael in St James's, followed in October by Three Darlings in Chelsea and a top notch fine dining "culinary voyage" destination, Row on 5 on Savile Row. Phew.

Atherton, 53 next week, says this "terrifying" burst of opening activity is likely to be his swansong in London,a city he ran away to at the age of 16 when he first lived in a three-bedroom house shared with 13 other chefs.

Atherton still toils in at least one of his kitchens every working day and few restaurateurs have a better feel for the shifting moods and expectations of the London restaurant-going public.