Closing

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

It feels like there has been a flurry of closures in recent weeks and here comes another (but it's not all bad news). 

Hill & Szrok on Broadway Market have announced that they're finishing up as a restaurant after 11 years of service. If you're unfamiliar with

It's one of Kentish Town's best bakeries but even the allure of their amazing ube tarts and pandesal buns hasn't been enough to save Filipino bakery and cafe Panadera from the threat of closure. Posting on Instagram, owner and co-founder Florence Mae revealed that they would be closing at the end of this month.

"With a very heavy heart, I have to share that Panadera will be leaving Kentish Town this January," she wrote.

Just over two years after the glitzy opening of Björn Frantzén's much-vaunted restaurant at Harrods, the Swedish chef has very quietly closed the doors on that partnership. The announcement was made on Boxing Day on Studio Frantzén's Instagram feed, so understandably most of us missed it. Kudos then to restaurant guide ...

Although the news was first previewed in an article on Michelin-star closures in the Times back in September, it was still a shock to read late on Friday that Georgio Locatelli's Locanda Locatelli has now closed its doors for good. It's another very high-profile closure in London, and

It's a bleak start to the week for Finsbury Park residents as two local favourites announce their closure. A few days ago residents noticed that the Pizza Pilgrims restaurant on Seven Sisters Road had closed and removed its sign. Hopes that this was part of a rebrand were dashed when Hot Dinners was told: "we’re building a sustainable business for the longer term and this location just isn’t quite right for the full experience

Well this is a sad story to be sharing with you on a Monday morning. It wasn't that long ago that we enjoyed a fabulous day cruising down the Regent's Canal on the canal boat restaurant The Prince Regent. But all good things must come to an end and over the weekend the London Shell Co announced that they are

A Hot Dinners exclusive

They had a star-studded party to launch it, but just five months after it opened Mimosa at The Langham has already closed its doors. All mention of the restaurant has been removed from the hotel's website and, when we called, a representative of the hotel told Hot Dinners that it was shut 'indefinitely'. That was later changed to "Mimosa has now closed."

It's one of the

It's been a particularly harsh summer for London's restaurants with a number of prominent closures and now there's news of another one. After 17 Years, Hereford Road in Westbourne Grove has closed down. 

The restaurant was set up by Tom Pemberton, a former head chef of St.

The year of high-profile closures continues. The latest restaurant to reveal that it's shutting the doors, after nine years, is Pidgin, James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy's Hackney restaurant. But just because they're leaving, it doesn't mean it's quite the end for this tiny Hackney restaurant. 

Announcing the closure ...