Covent Garden institution Christopher’s (pictured) has closed after 35 years, with Adam Byatt’s Bistro Union, Malaysian specialist Laksamania and Indian restaurant Black Salt in East Sheen also calling time at the end of September.
In further closures, recent weeks have seen the company behind Belgravia’s 19 Motcomb Street placed in a creditors’ voluntary liquidation with reported debts of £9million, leading to the apparent closure of its three hospitality venues, restaurants Amelie and Sachi and lounge bar Luum. Mr Chow, the famous Knightsbridge Chinese restaurant launched in 1968, has also been placed in administration, but is still taking bookings.
Christopher’s opened in 1991 having taken over a grand former casino on Wellington Street to fulfil founder Christopher Gilmour’s ambition to bring New York-style grills and cocktails to the capital’s Theatreland. It has been owned since 2010 by the Paul family, who are planning to reopen the business at a new address.
Anika Paul, the MD, said: “While we are saying goodbye to this much-loved building, this is not the end of Christopher’s. We intend to relocate and look forward to sharing more about the restaurant’s next chapter in due course.”
Bistro Union in Clapham has closed after almost 15 years, just weeks after Adam Byatt opened a new Italian restaurant called Rosina in nearby Wandsworth Common. Bistro Union had always played second fiddle to his flagship, Trinity, in Clapham Old Town.
Laksamania was founded on Newman Street, Fitzrovia by chef Danny Tan eight years ago, and said it had struggled to stay afloat an an independent family-owned business in the face of rising costs ever since the covid epidemic.
Black Salt was from the same stable as highly rated Dastaan in Ewell and earned similarly high praise in its five years, but a notice posted on its website said the business had been unable to resolve a long-running issue over its lease and had taken advice to cease trading with immediate effect.
The statement added: “What makes this especially difficult is that, in what has been an incredibly challenging environment for hospitality, Black Salt had built something really special.”
