La Cage Imaginaire, a cute Hampstead Village bistro that featured in the latest Bridget Jones film, is closing down after 50 years at the end of this month.
The 26-seat venue in Flask Walk serves homely French and Mediterranean food. Antonia Macone, who has owned and run it for the past two decades, says it has become too difficult to operate with a small team in the current economic climate. She plans to return to her native Italy following the closure.
La Cage’s notable habitués have included local celebs ranging from Claudia Roden, the doyenne of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food writing, to the comedian Rowan Atkinson and the late actor John Hurt.
Film directors have also fallen for its charms, using at as a location for the Ricky Gervais TV series After Life (2019) and this year’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, in which the eponymous, now widowed heroine (played by Renée Zellweger) and her toyboy Roxster McDuff (Leo Woodall) sit in the bow window on their second date.
