Simpsons, the doyen of Birmingham restaurants, is to close after 32 years following the failure of founder Andreas Antona to find a buyer. Set in a listed Georgian villa in leafy Edgbaston, Simpsons has long set the standard for dining in the Midlands, its kitchen launching the careers of numerous successful chefs. Andreas put the […]
The Victorian-era Chester Grosvenor, one of northern England’s grandest hotels, is to close indefinitely this autumn following the discovery of defective concrete in the building. The closure, from September 30, will see the loss of its two restaurants: the very traditional and highly rated Arkle, run for by many years by chef Simon Radley and […]
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 […]
Tast, the Catalan restaurant backed by senior figures at Manchester City, has announced its closure after eight years, as a number of restaurants around the country pull down the shutters for the last time in the face of tough trading conditions. The restaurant in Manchester’s King Street was backed by the football club’s manager Pep […]
Chef Lee Tiernan has announced his plan to “pause” – rather than permanently close – FKABAM (Black Axe Mangal), the cult heavy-metal restaurant he and his wife Kate have operated on Highbury Corner for the past 10 years. He intends to maintain the restaurant space and operate his own pop-up there next year, while floating the […]
Paco Tapas in Bristol and the Angel in Dartmouth are among the prominent restaurants to announce their closure this week, with Tom Kerridge’s Butcher’s Tap & Grill in Chelsea and the two Chick’n’Sours sites in London also shutting up shop. The loss of Paco Tapas means Peter Sanchez-Iglesias (pictured) and his family no longer have […]
Two heavyweight French restaurants are pulling out of London, with the closure of La Dame de Pic in the City and Café Lapérouse in the Old War Office (OWO) building in Whitehall. La Dame de Pic, the UK outpost of highly decorated French chef Anne-Sophie Pic (pictured), will serve its final meals next Saturday, 15 […]
Highly rated Edinburgh seafood fixture Ondine is to close temporarily at the end of the year, before reopening at an as-yet undisclosed location in the city centre – with a second branch launching in St Andrews on March 1st. The move has been forced on its founder, chef Roy Brett, by protracted work on the building […]
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 […]
Chef Dan Ashmore has closed his Edinburgh live-fire restaurant ASKR after just six months and will take up a post as executive chef at the Schloss Roxburghe spa hotel, near Kelso in the Borders, later this month. Backed by the Dean Banks group, for which he was restaurant director, Dan opened ASKR – apparently an old […]
