The Victory takes over from longstanding East Dulwich restaurant Franklin's

When one door closes, another opens, and that's very much the case with the closure this week of an East Dulwich institution, Franklin's. After 26 years in business, owner Rod Franklin decided that he was ready to retire. In a eulogy for the restaurant, critic Jay Rayner dubbed it "a marvellous place, the model of what you want a local place to be".

But before SE22 locals get all in a tizzy about losing their happy place, the good news is that plans are already afoot for what's going to replace it. As Rod explained in a post on Instagram, "a small group of long-time customers have some together with the owner of The Begging Bowl (Jamie Younger) to take on the space and relaunch it as The Victory, the name of the original pub".

Joining Jamie in his endeavour is his partner Rema Waterhouse, Harriet and James Scott from PR company Gingercomms, Claudia Winkleman's fashion stylist Sinead McKeefry and their friend and local Andrew Blanchfield.

It's a nice closing of the circle for Jamie and Rema in particular, who used to run The Palmerston on the same road before they were forced out nearly seven years ago. That's all we know so far, but we'll bring you more news as we get it.