Heston Blumenthal is to shut down his London restaurant Dinner by Heston at the end of next January, on the 16th anniversary of its launch. Describing the closure as “sad and bittersweet“, he said the project had “run its natural course“. Set in the Mandarin Oriental hotel overlooking Hyde Park, Dinner was Heston’s follow-up to the […]
Club Gascon in Smithfield, one of the most influential restaurants in London of the last quarter century, is to shut up shop at the end of March. Chef-patron Pascal Aussignac and his business partner Vincent Labeyrie announced the closure “with both gratitude and a heavy heart” in an email to regulars this week. They said: […]
Leeds chef Liz Cottam is closing her gastrobar Emba at the end of February, in the face of “crushing costs” that have brought her a trio of closures in the past 18 months. She launched the Scandi-style Emba less than a year ago on the back of a successful £65,000 crowdfunding campaign, taking over the […]
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 […]
Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand shut down without warning this week, just five months after its heavily publicised launch, with the chef saying the closure was “due to circumstances beyond our control“. The dining room of the Victorian Gothic former railway hotel, now run as the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, is regarded as one […]
Peripatetic wild food restaurant Native has closed after less than a year at its latest location, the Netherwood Estate on the Worcestershire-Herefordshire border, following a failure in its extraction system that “broke the camel’s back“. Chef Ivan Tisdall-Downes (pictured) and his business partner Imogen Davis launched the zero-waste, foraging-based project in 2012, winning widespread acclaim […]
Petersham Nurseries has closed its two Covent Garden offshoots, citing rising rents, the recent budget and Brexit for the decision. Its famous flagship cafe will remain open in the old plant nursery on the edge of Richmond Park. Facing an annual £1.2m bill for rent, rates and services at the Floral Court premises of The […]
Café Britaly, the hybrid British caff/Italian comfort food restaurant that opened to critical acclaim in Packham last year, has closed down after just eight months. Co-owners Richard Crampton-Platt (left in picture) and Alex Purdie (right) say they were unable to build enough momentum to generate sustainable revenue in the face of “challenging trading conditions, which were […]
Marylebone Peruvian restaurant Pachamama is to close after 10 years, and will be replaced by a new Italian venture as its owner repositions the group. Fans of Pachamama’s “incredible sticky aubergine”, recommended in the new 2025 Harden’s guide, will still be able to find it at the Shoreditch branch in Great Eastern Street. The move […]
Hip Shoreditch wine bar/restaurant Leroy has closed while the nearby Clove Club – heavyweight kingpin of the East London dining scene for the past decade – has separated from its Italian sister restaurant Luca as the founding team announces a splitting of assets. Leroy lost its Michelin star in March, but earned its customary high ratings in […]
