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A bomb in Wardour Street?
Feb. 28th, 2007 11:46 amI haven't written about the state of the restaurant world in Wardour Street for some time, so, let me bring you the exciting news.
A Coffee bar at the north end of the street shut down about nine months ago and is to be replaced by, yes, a Pret a Manger. This is excellent news, because it's very hard to find a Pret in central London. I think that the nearest one to this particular location is more than 100 yards away.
Meanwhile Hummus Bros, or whatever it is called, has defied the curse of Babu and has turned its site into a nice little earner. Well, it's still there, and now seems to have a steady trade.
The other "forever doomed" site on Wardour Street, number 139, also seems to be surviving, although not thriving. I'm not sure if 139 Wardour Street is Chinese, Korean or Mongolian (or all three), and there don't often seem to be that many people in there. But, well, it's still around.
Which is more than can be said for the Benjy's next to Lee Stafford Hairdressers (think Comic Relief and some ghastly TV show on BBC 3). This outlet shut up shop about five months ago and is only now being refurbished. I'm afraid that I liked the name of the new operation, although doubtless this is a well-recognized brand and it's only the fact that I don't get out enough that prevented me from knowing that "Just Falafs" has hundreds of other outlets in central London.
The Intrepid Fox, once home of goths, punks and bikers, remains boarded up. I've never really understood landlords that up the cost of the lease to get someone out, and then shut the place down for ages. I'm quite sure that some accountant can explain to me how this makes financial sense, in the way that only an accountant can tell you how not having money coming in is better than having money coming in.
Finally, on the south side of Shaftesbury Avenue, one of the longest-standing restaurants in that area, Chez Victor, suffered a fire early yesterday. As I passed it on the way home they had police stationed outside and a CSI-like "Fire Investigation Unit" there in full force, interviewing people and so on. Great stuff. The inside looked pretty badly damaged, so, heaven knows what actually happened.
The Fatburger revolution is, sort of, coming to London, with classier hamburger joints serving better-quality hamburgers cropping up every time you blink.
And all this would be great, except that I still can't get used to the brace. In fact, it's making me quite miserable ... On the plus side, I think I can actually detect some signs of straightening and gap-closing in the most crooked of the teeth. And the pressure (causing a perpetual dull ache in the front four upper teeth) must mean that some progress is being made. Five days down, 360 to go? Sigh.
A Coffee bar at the north end of the street shut down about nine months ago and is to be replaced by, yes, a Pret a Manger. This is excellent news, because it's very hard to find a Pret in central London. I think that the nearest one to this particular location is more than 100 yards away.
Meanwhile Hummus Bros, or whatever it is called, has defied the curse of Babu and has turned its site into a nice little earner. Well, it's still there, and now seems to have a steady trade.
The other "forever doomed" site on Wardour Street, number 139, also seems to be surviving, although not thriving. I'm not sure if 139 Wardour Street is Chinese, Korean or Mongolian (or all three), and there don't often seem to be that many people in there. But, well, it's still around.
Which is more than can be said for the Benjy's next to Lee Stafford Hairdressers (think Comic Relief and some ghastly TV show on BBC 3). This outlet shut up shop about five months ago and is only now being refurbished. I'm afraid that I liked the name of the new operation, although doubtless this is a well-recognized brand and it's only the fact that I don't get out enough that prevented me from knowing that "Just Falafs" has hundreds of other outlets in central London.
The Intrepid Fox, once home of goths, punks and bikers, remains boarded up. I've never really understood landlords that up the cost of the lease to get someone out, and then shut the place down for ages. I'm quite sure that some accountant can explain to me how this makes financial sense, in the way that only an accountant can tell you how not having money coming in is better than having money coming in.
Finally, on the south side of Shaftesbury Avenue, one of the longest-standing restaurants in that area, Chez Victor, suffered a fire early yesterday. As I passed it on the way home they had police stationed outside and a CSI-like "Fire Investigation Unit" there in full force, interviewing people and so on. Great stuff. The inside looked pretty badly damaged, so, heaven knows what actually happened.
The Fatburger revolution is, sort of, coming to London, with classier hamburger joints serving better-quality hamburgers cropping up every time you blink.
And all this would be great, except that I still can't get used to the brace. In fact, it's making me quite miserable ... On the plus side, I think I can actually detect some signs of straightening and gap-closing in the most crooked of the teeth. And the pressure (causing a perpetual dull ache in the front four upper teeth) must mean that some progress is being made. Five days down, 360 to go? Sigh.
