L’Ortolan near Reading, a beacon of UK gastronomy for four decades, is to close down at the end of next month. Peter Newman, the IT entrepreneur who has owned the restaurant since 2000, blamed the closure on a familiar combination of Brexit, pandemic lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis, which left customers less inclined to spend […]

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Diners were disappointed to learn of two premature endings this week, with the closure of London risotto specialist All’Onda from first-time restaurateur Cordula Schluz (pictured) and the departure of veteran chef Simon Bonwick after 18 months at the Dew Drop Inn in Berkshire. All’Onda (meaning ‘on the wave’), in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, only lasted for […]

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Camilla Fayed’s high-profile plant-based restaurant Farmacy in Westbourne Grove is closing after eight years on Sunday 7 July. No reason has been given for the move. When contacted at the restaurant, a spokesperson said the business’s external events catering arm would remain in operation and an announcement would be made later this year concerning a […]

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Chef Tom Brown is to close his highly rated restaurant Cornerstone in Hackney Wick, citing rising costs and diners’ changing preferences. Instead, he will focus on Pearly Queen, the more relaxed fish restaurant he opened in Shoreditch last November. Launched in 2018, Cornerstone is one of the most lauded restaurants of the past decade and […]

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Pip Lacey’s Hicce Hart gastropub and Little Pizza Hicce have shut down, following the closure late last year of her flagship restaurant Hicce in Coal Drops Yard, King’s Cross. The pub in Islington and pizzeria in Wood Green were opened barely a year ago by the high-profile chef and her business partner, Gordy McIntyre. The […]

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