Steakhouse group · 35 days aged
Hawksmoor
Hawksmoor is a group of steakhouses founded in London in 2006 by Will Beckett and Huw Gott, which serves British beef dry-aged for 35 days and cooked over charcoal.
At a glance
- City
- London, UK (and other cities)
- Founded
- 2006
- Style
- British steakhouse
- Beef
- British, grass-reared, grain-finished, dry-aged 35 days
- Fire
- Charcoal
- Known for
- No. 1, World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2022
From London to New York and Dublin
Hawksmoor is a British steakhouse business with restaurants in London and in other cities in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the United States. Wikipedia lists locations in Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin, New York, Chicago and Boston, in addition to London; the number of restaurants varies by source and over time.
In London the company lists eight restaurants: Air Street, Borough, Guildhall, Knightsbridge, Seven Dials, Spitalfields, St Pancras and Wood Wharf. Hawksmoor is the trading name of Underdog Restaurants Ltd. Besides steak, the restaurants are known for their cocktail bars; the business describes itself as a steakhouse and cocktail bar group.
Spitalfields, 2006
Will Beckett and Huw Gott, friends since childhood, opened the first Hawksmoor in 2006 on Commercial Street in Spitalfields, in east London.
Both had worked in bars and kitchens in the East End before. According to Wikipedia, their plan was to serve well-butchered, high-quality beef, and after tasting beef from several countries they concluded that the best-tasting steak for their purpose came from the United Kingdom. A second restaurant opened in Seven Dials in 2010; in that period the company's turnover rose from £4 million to £11 million. Reviewing Seven Dials in The Times in February 2011, the critic Giles Coren called it "great, great steak".
The first restaurant outside the British Isles opened in New York in September 2021, in the United Charities Building in Gramercy Park, after a delay caused by the pandemic. Harden's reported 146 covers in the main dining room and a 35-seat bar. Chicago and Boston followed.
In 2013 the private equity firm Graphite Capital acquired a majority stake, in a deal reported to value the company at £35 million. In 2024 the business was reported to be up for sale; as of October 2025 it was still listed in Graphite Capital's portfolio.
British farms, 35 days dry-aged
The company states that its beef comes from independent British farms, from cattle that are grass-reared and "finished gently on grain", and that it is dry-aged for 35 days.
Hawksmoor runs a rare and native breeds programme with the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, a British conservation charity, and buys under a 30-page ethical beef specification. When it opened, its beef was rare-breed Longhorn from The Ginger Pig, a London butcher, according to the guide The Nudge; whether that supplier is still used has not been confirmed.
Charcoal and Maldon salt
Steaks are cooked over charcoal and seasoned with Maldon sea salt, according to the company.
British beef, and two books
The menu is built around British beef cooked over charcoal. Steakpedia has not verified a list of signature cuts or current prices.
The founders have published two books with recipes from the restaurants. Hawksmoor at Home (2011), written with Richard Turner, covers beef breeds and cuts, the science of cooking steak and the history of the restaurants, alongside recipes for steak, seafood, burgers and cocktails. Hawksmoor: Restaurants & Recipes (2017) marked the group's first decade, with recipes for steak, bone marrow, fish, desserts and cocktails.
Carbon-neutral, net zero by 2030
On its purpose page, Hawksmoor states that it became a carbon-neutral restaurant group, which it believes was a world first, while describing offsetting as a step rather than a solution; it has set a net-zero target for 2030 and says that its British beef farms are working towards net zero by 2040, measuring their footprint and looking at manure, feed and land management. These are the company's own statements; Steakpedia has not seen independent verification of the figures.
The group's main charity is Action Against Hunger: it reported more than £1.25 million raised and donated by 2022, and its 2025 menus give a figure of almost £2 million. It has appeared repeatedly in the Sunday Times Best Companies to Work For list.
First on the 101 Best Steak list, 2022
Hawksmoor was ranked no. 1 in the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants list in 2022 and no. 23 in 2025.
The company is a certified B Corporation, a certification for social and environmental standards; it describes itself as the first restaurant business in the United Kingdom to obtain it. It also holds a three-star rating from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, according to Wikipedia.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Hawksmoor?
It was founded by Will Beckett and Huw Gott. Graphite Capital has held a majority stake since 2013 and still listed it in its portfolio in October 2025.
How long is Hawksmoor beef aged?
The company states 35 days of dry-aging.
Where does Hawksmoor beef come from?
From independent British farms; the cattle are grass-reared and finished on grain, according to the company.
Where are the Hawksmoor restaurants?
In London, and, according to Wikipedia, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Dublin, New York, Chicago and Boston.
When did Hawksmoor open in New York?
In September 2021, in the United Charities Building in Gramercy Park; it was the group's first restaurant in the United States.
Is there a Hawksmoor cookbook?
Two: Hawksmoor at Home (2011) and Hawksmoor: Restaurants & Recipes (2017), both by the founders Huw Gott and Will Beckett.
Sources
9
- Hawksmoor. Official website. thehawksmoor.com
- Hawksmoor. "Purpose." thehawksmoor.com/purpose
- Wikipedia. "Hawksmoor (restaurant)." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawksmoor_(restaurant)
- The Nudge. "Hawksmoor." thenudge.com/london-restaurants/hawksmoor
- Wikipedia. "World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_101_Best_Steak_Restaurants
- World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2025 (list, via En Primeur Club). www.enprimeurclub.com/lists/2025-worlds-best-steaks-101-best-steak-restaurants
- Harden's. "Hawksmoor opens huge space in New York." 10 September 2021. www.hardens.com/uk-london/10-09-2021/hawksmoor-opens-huge-space-in-new-york
- The Caterer. "Book review – Hawksmoor at Home" (Gott, Huw; Beckett, Will; Turner, Richard. Hawksmoor at Home. London: Preface, 2011). www.thecaterer.com/news/restaurant/book-review-hawksmoor-at-home
- The Caterer. "Book review: Hawksmoor: Restaurants & Recipes" (Gott, Huw; Beckett, Will. 2017). thecaterer.com/indepth/book-review-hawksmoor-restaurants-recipes
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