The Greenhouse W1 has closed for a major refurbishment by London designers Virgile & Stone. The new look is intended to complement the “serene” mews location.

It was only back in 2004 that the restaurant’s new owner Marlon Abela – through MARC, his personal ‘Restaurant Corporation’ – totally revamped the interior of the long-popular Mayfair destination.

We thought at the time that all he’d succeeded in doing was ripping out all the charm, and it seems that he’s now come to broadly the same conclusion. (If you are one of the heirs to a fortune approaching $1 billion, you get to change your mind occasionally.)

Abela, one surmises, in desperate for greater recognition (and more of those infernal stars), and it does seem that, in Antonin Bonnet, he has a chef worth backing. Despite its dull décor, the Greenhouse was the surprise joint winner in a recent Bloomberg straw poll of the restaurants which top London chefs like best.

An early-February re-opening is scheduled, although the reservation office remains open during weekday office hours on 020 7499 3331.