Not content with reviving Le Caprice, Jeremy King is taking on another iconic London restaurant
Simpson’s in the Strand has had a tough time since it closed during the pandemic – it never found a way to open during the ever-changing lockdown restrictions and then this summer it auctioned off a load of its assets, including light fixtures, crockery and its famous silver carving trolley. Thankfully that didn’t spell the end of the restaurant for good, merely a wiping of the slate.
The iconic restaurant, which first opened as a coffee shop and chess club in 1828 before becoming known for classic British food and tableside carving, was one of the first UK restaurants to win a Michelin star in 1974 and has welcomed everyone from Charles Dickens to Winston Churchill to Audrey Hepburn through its doors. Now it’s being reborn thanks to The Savoy and Jeremy King.
It’s another headline project for King who’s already got two other huge openings on the cards, one being new restaurant The Park in Kensington and the other being the revival of Le Caprice, under the new name Arlington. Speaking about taking on Simpson’s, King says, “It is now well over forty years since I fell in love with Simpson’s in the Strand and over twenty years since I first became excited at the prospect of being able to work with The Savoy and take over its helm. Simpson’s is the last of the ‘Grande Dame’ restaurants that still retains its original décor and features, and the prospect of restoring it to its former glory is the apotheosis of my career. The history of this magnificent institution will be cherished as we bring it fully into the 21st Century.” No word yet on whether that means the trolleys are coming back…
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Opens 2024
100 Strand, London WC2R 0EZ
simpsonsinthestrand.co.uk