UKInvestments: A Northern Ireland investor has paid £11 million stg (€15.8 million) for the top London restaurant The Wolseley, opposite the Ritz Hotel in the West End.

The Wolsley is regarded as "the hottest ticket" in London, having been voted the restaurant of the year in 2004 in the Harpers & Moet Restaurant Awards.

It was opened only a year ago by former Ivy and Le Caprice owners Jeremy King and Chris Corbin. Clients include singer Elton John, model Kate Moss, pop group Destiny's Child, film maker and restaurant critic Michael Winner and pop idol judge Simon Cowell.

The Wolseley is located at 160 Piccadilly and has a floor area of 1,049 sq m (11,300 sq ft) including offices on the first floor and four floors of residential accommodation.

Belfast agents Osborne King & Megran and Savills acted for the purchaser who will expect to get a yield of 5.4 per cent when the offices are let. The rent for the restaurant is €475,000 (€682,125) per annum.

Robert Ditty of OKM said that while many of their clients had been dipping their toes in the British property market for some time, they had now reached a situation where local investors were emerging as significant players within a market once dominated by institutional investors and property companies. He said Northern investors had spent an estimated £100 million (€144m) in the past six months on commercial properties in central London.