A “refreshingly eccentric” operation offering “English comfort food” is set to open on Soho’s former Circus site next month.

With an interior from über-designer David Collins, and inspired by “first class rail travel in Edwardian times”, it sounds as if it’s aiming to be a classy sort of joint. Its backers describe it as a restaurant, but with its “high end all day dining” (from 7am), and a food service all day until the closing of the late bar (3am), the description ‘bar/brasserie’ might arguably be more appropriate.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? An English-style answer to a really cool Parisian brasserie, or perhaps a trendier, later-night version of the Wolselely W1. The big question, though, is whether they can pull it off. The strains of combining a large all-day quality dining operation with a late-night bar have never, so far as we can recall, ever been effectively overcome. Not in London anyway.