Giggling Squid acquires first London site: Thai restaurant group Giggling Squid has confirmed its first London acquisition. A 110-cover restaurant is due to open in the heart of Wimbledon village in the summer. The site has potential for a further 75 to 100 covers upstairs, which will be developed over two years. Giggling Squid co-founder Andy Laurillard said: “We see Brexit as having burst the London bubble a bit and as prices fall, we’ll be looking to capitalise on our strong financial position. The plan is to dramatically expand into the Greater London area over the next few years. Beyond that the brand is in negotiations to acquire several further properties within the M25. Following the recent launch of Farnham, the group’s 20th site, Brentwood in April and Windsor in the early summer are set to follow.” Owned by Thai-born Pranee Laurillard and her husband Andrew, Giggling Squid took a £6.4m investment from the Business Growth Fund in 2015 to accelerate growth plans. Founded in the basement of a tiny fisherman’s cottage, now the Brighton restaurant, the couple opened their first site in Hove in 2009.

TripAdvisor launches storyboard for restaurants: TripAdvisor has made it easier for owners and operators to help enhance their restaurant listings by telling their own story through the use of vivid imagery with Storyboard for TripAdvisor. Storyboard is a new feature that makes it easy for restaurants to combine images and reviews, creating a dynamic video that engages and entices potential customers on TripAdvisor. Storyboard replaces a restaurant’s static primary photo with a dynamic attention-grabbing presentation that showcases a restaurant’s best features – delivering a powerful first impression to new customers, and enticing past customers to dine again. Storyboard publishing is a feature available exclusively to TripAdvisor Premium for Restaurants subscribers.