Russell Norman

Restaurateur

Polpo founder Russell Norman has nine restaurants in London and one in Brighton, with Polpo Lewisham due to open soon. Norman qualified as a teacher, working in a girls’ school for three years, but made better money on his weekends as a maître d’ at theatre restaurant Joe Allens. He decided to enter the restaurant business full time, working as an operations director at Caprice Holdings before deciding to set up his own business with best friend Richard Beatty in 2009. His flagship Polpo opened on Beak Street in September of that year, billed as a Venetian bàcaro, a humble restaurant serving simple food and good, young wines. It was a hit with critics, described as ‘simply the best value in the West End’ by AA Gill. Further openings soon followed. Norman has published two books and presented documentary The Restaurant Man in 2014 for BBC2. 

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