Closing

The current business climate for restaurants in London is brutal. And we're particularly sad to be reporting on the demise of one of the city's longer-standing restaurants, Club Gascon.

In an email sent to regulars last night, the restaurant's owners, Chef Pascal Aussignac and Vincent Labeyrie, said that it was "With both gratitude and a heavy heart, we share that Club Gascon will be closing its doors following dinner service on 28 March.

"From the very beginning, our approach to dining was driven by passion and creativity - offering guests the freedom to explore three to

If you're a North Londoner, or even if you're just someone who loves a good night out, then at some point in your life, an evening has probably involved the immortal words 'let's go to Rowans'. The bowling alley meets karaoke and late-night disco spot is one of those last vestiges of old-school late-night London, along with the likes of Infernos in Clapham.

As a Finsbury Park resident myself, I've spent most of my adult life in London in its orbit, from hazy nights out to raucous children's bowling parties. There's something fantastic and unreconstructed about Rowans that can't

Here at Hot Dinners we mainly focus on the hottest restaurants in town, as well as new openings. But the London restaurant scene is ever-changing and that means some restaurants fall to the wayside. With that in mind, we're keeping track of the notable restaurants that London has lost over the past year.

After 10 years, Lee and Kate Tiernan have announced that it's the end of the road for FKABAM (Formerly Known As Black Axe Mangal). Sort of. 

Essentially, the last service of FKABAM in Islington will be just before Christmas. It sounds like it's not completely the end, though, as Lee says they "will continue cooking in our unique style,

Ever since it opened back in 2019, Pophams in Hackney has been equally well known for its evening pasta restaurant as it has been for its bacon and maple swirls. But, very soon, its time is coming to an end. 

Announcing the closure news on Instagram, they have said that, like much of the industry

London's restaurant scene was rocked by an unexpected announcement today as Claude Bosi revealed that he had closed his eponymous Michelin-starred restaurant in South Kensington.

In a statement released on Instagram, Bosi and his wife Lucy said: "Despite our very best efforts, we were unable to reach a resolution with our partners and landlords that would allow Michelin House to move into its next

There has been a catalogue of high-profile restaurant closures across London recently, but the shuttering of Adam Simmonds' eponymous restaurant in King's Cross is the second chef-led venture in the area to fold in as many months. The other was the shock closure of ...

It was one of the hottest new restaurants to open in Chelsea for a while, but now Fantomas has closed its doors and its chef has departed. 

Chris Denney was the driving force behind Fantomas, which he launched together with Wild's George Bukhov-Weinstein and Ilya Demichev. The restaurant announced its closure (the last day was 3 August) on Instagram two

After 12 years of giving the people of East London amazing homemade pasta, the folks at Burro e Salvio are calling it quits. But in the run up to their closure they've decided to go out with a bang, culiminating in a few weeks of last-minute lunches, workshops and sales.

"We've been more than a pastificio," they said in a post on Instagram, "many of our team found their true calling here, and some customers discovered

There are some London restaurants whose closure is announced, accompanied by a sense of "well it was on the cards". That's definitively not the case with Victor Garvey at the Midland Grand, which has not only been open for just six months, but has also been in receipt of great reviews and doing good business.

It was a shock, therefore, to both the chef himself and his restaurant staff when the restaurant

A Hot Dinners exclusive

Ever since the Pachamama group had an absolute belter of a success with the opening of Bottarga and then Nina, where Chicama and Pachamama used to be, the writing has been on the wall for Pachamama East. And now we hear that the restaurant will close next month, with plans already afoot for its replacement.

"This marks the end of a defining chapter for us," they told Hot Dinners,

We've seen a fair few closure announcements of late, but this one has caught us somewhat by surprise. After five years, Norman's Cafe is getting ready to close.

The cafe in Archway had become hugely popular over those years, also managing to attract some very high-profile collabs, notably one which saw the cafe team up with Burberry for London Fashion week (including decking the team out in Burberry uniforms).

It's been open for a decade and for a number of years made it onto the World's 50 Best Restaurants list, but Lyle's is getting ready to call it a day and will close in May.

Run by James Lowe (and originally opened with John Ogier) the restaurant, with its stripped back feel and Michelin-starred seasonal cooking, was at the forefront of Shoreditch's nascent restaurant scene. Through its

Around this time last year, Jason Atherton announced the closure of his (then) flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social. A few months later, in August, that restaurant was given a light do-over and replaced by grill restaurant Mary's.

There were originally plans to completely revamp the place and fully relaunch the restaurant earlier this year, but that never materialised. Now,

The slow steady trickle of London restaurant closures appears to be accelerating with a pair of the city's longstanding restaurants announcing their closure this week.

The first was Chelsea restaurant The Five Fields which last night put out a post on Instagram saying "It is with heavy hearts that after more