'This remains an industry in crisis': How London's restaurants are preparing for life after lockdown

At The Wolseley in Piccadilly, restaurateurs Chris Corbin and Jeremy King are preparing to install “fairly unobtrusive” thermal scanners to check diners’ temperatures. At Kitty Fisher’s in Mayfair, Tom Mullion and Oliver “Oz” Milburn are setting out 16 of the usual 32 tables in their two small dining rooms, with “a handful” outside for those wary of eating indoors. In the forecourt of Climpson’s Arch near London Fields, chef Tomos Parry is supervising the relocation of a four-tonne brick oven and the construction of a retractable roof on an outdoor, pop-up version of his Shore-ditch restaurant Brat. Such are the tentative steps the London restaurant scene is making towards reopening.

Not every door is being thrown open on July 4. Of the six venues operated by Corbin and King, the Wolseley, Fischer’s, Colbert and Brasserie Zédel will reopen; The Delaunay and Soutine remain closed for now. Kitty Fisher’s opens on July 8 but its sister restaurant Cora Pearl, in Covent Garden, will remain shuttered. Jonathan Downey is not sure if his Street Feast food markets or his Canary Wharf bar Giant Robot will ever return. Asma Khan has closed Darjeeling Express in Kingly Court but hopes to find a larger venue for it if the Covid crisis results in empty premises and less punishing rents. Skye Gyngell’s restaurant Spring, at Somerset House, will remain closed, but will be doing home delivery until September 11.

Most of the people I spoke to for this article we’re gloomy about the ongoing viability of running a hospitality business under social distancing. Many believe that a second spike and lockdown would be fatal for their restaurants. Those welcoming diners from Saturday or in the coming weeks — like the original Brat and its sister restaurants Kiln and Smoking Goat — are excited but cautious. This remains an industry in crisis. “My guesstimate is that probably 30 to 35 per cent of restaurants will drop,” says King. “In New York they are talking about 50 per cent.” Downey reckons a million jobs are already lost in the UK, with another million at stake. Everyone is worried about the possibility of a second spike in infections and having to close again. Everyone remembers how awful it was when lockdown arrived in March.

“There was a sense of impending doom as we saw what was happening in other countries begin to encroach on the bubble you exist in as a restaurant,” says chef Jackson Boxer, amid a clatter of activity as he prepares to reopen Notting Hill’s Orasay and Brunswick House in Vauxhall. “I run my two restaurants pretty much off my own back, I have no serious investors, so when things go badly wrong, there is very little to fall back on. When we finally were forced to close, there was a feeling of desolation.”

Ravinder Bhogal, of Jikoni in Marylebone, remembers that “everyone was talking about Covid but no one was taking it seriously” until an American food writer who was due to speak at an event in the restaurant on March 9 cancelled her flight. A week later, Bhogal and her husband Nadeem Lalani were both laid low with fever symptoms and took the decision to close “as a lot of our team members live with people in high-risk categories. We are a small business, three years in, and had just hit our sweet spot. It was really scary.” Mullion and Milburn had hired a new head chef, Karl Goward, a week before lockdown.

Most restaurants make meagre profits and all of them run on debt; takings pay your staff and suppliers. When the tap is turned off, the money runs out very fast. The furlough scheme was therefore a godsend. Gyngell, who employs 59 people, wept when it was announced.

With their staff at least partially taken care of, the operators to whom I spoke all said their next concern was to pay their suppliers. Negotiations over a rent reduction, a deferral, or a holiday from payments continue. Boxer, Parry and Gyngell say their landlords have been sympathetic. Downey says he will be unable to pay the nine months’ rent due on his Soho bar Milk & Honey at the end of September, so may have to hand the lease back. He has been calling for a nationwide “time out”, a nine-month break from payments, followed by the introduction of rents based on turnover.

After the financial concerns come philosophical questions. What do you do with a locked down restaurant? Gyngell and Bhogal cooked meals for the NHS and launched food delivery businesses with skeleton staff. Boxer reopened Brunswick House as a farm shop, selling produce directly from his suppliers and excellent “finish-at-home” dishes, and launched a delivery service from Orasay. “Has it made money?” says Boxer of his “at-home” service. “No. Has it been worth it? Absolutely yes.”

Parry’s wife gave birth to their second child, a daughter, joining their toddler son. That week he reopened Brat as a farm shop and takeaway grill, but closed it five days later, concerned for the safety of his staff. During furlough he thought about how he could secure a future for all the staff in the group and make diners feel safe. Hence the pop-up. Brat, Smoking Goat and Kiln will all reopen in July at 50 to 60 per cent of usual capacity, and with reduced staff. Those left over will work at Climpson’s Arch. “It does seem a bit mad,” he cheerfully concedes, “but we’ve already sold out quite a lot of weekends for the arch over the summer.” All my interviewees agree that Covid will “reset” the industry. Downey sees the demise of some mediocre big chains as “the natural selection process accelerated” but mourns the possible loss of independent, middle-market businesses. Mullion points out that high-end chefs resistant to preparing takeout or finish-at-home services have been compelled to try it and found it a satisfying challenge: Kitty Fisher’s plans to roll out a delivery service.

Gyngell hopes Spring will be able to reopen largely unchanged in September. Those restaurants that open earlier will look and feel different. All will have fewer tables. Most will have shorter menus and reduced trading hours.

No one knows if the reduced capacity will enable restaurants to turn a profit or generate a buzz. “We are opening as a show of positivity and because both customers and staff really want it,” says King. “The only way out of this is to get open, get trading,” says Mullion. He’s aware that it may sound absurd to be discussing restaurants in such grave times, “but it’s not. Sitting down and breaking bread with friends and family is fundamental, isn’t it? I think people miss that hugely and want to go back to it. We’ll be ready to serve when they do.”

“Will it be the same as before lockdown,” says Boxer of the restaurant scene. “Almost certainly not. But as long as we are focused on making sure everyone who comes in feels loved, cared for and looked after, and that they are eating something that has been cooked with love, care and attention, I am fairly confident we can make something work. It’s going to be daunting, and will require a huge amount of creative energy. But I can’t wait to get back into the kitchen and get cooking again.”

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