UK’s oldest Indian restaurant threatened with closure
Veeraswamy, which has been based in Victory House in Leicester Square since 1926, could be forced to move as The Crown Estate prepares to refurbish the building. The post UK’s oldest Indian restaurant threatened with closure appeared first on The Drinks Business.
Veeraswamy, which has been based in Victory House in Leicester Square since 1926, could be forced to move as The Crown Estate prepares to refurbish the building.
Founded by Edward Palmer, the great-grandson of the first Governor General of India, Veeraswamy has existed on 99 Regent Street for 99 years. An advert for its opening, in March 1926, described its offering as "clean Indian and English food, good wines, and oriental coffee". The restaurant also holds one Michelin Star, with the guide noting: "You can expect to find cuisine from all parts of India, including cleverly enhanced street snacks and stand-out dishes inspired by royal recipes. Top quality British produce is often used, such as Welsh lamb for the Kashmiri rogan josh." However, just shy of its centenary, the historic restaurant could be forced out of its home building for a 12 month period as The Crown Estate, which handles the holdings owned by the British monarchy, prepares for a "comprehensive refurbishment" of Victory House. The Crown Estate owns the building and, as reported in The Times, it informed Veeraswamy owner MW Eat last summer that it would not be renewing the restaurant's lease. The Crown Estate plans to extend the reception area for the offices above the restaurant, which would necessitate encroaching into Veeraswamy's entrance. The offices in question have not been occupied since 2023. ME Eat co-owner Ranjit Mathrani told The Times that he believed that The Crown Estate found it "tiresome" to have a restaurant in the property, adding: "We’ll have to close down and then seek to revive it in a new site after whatever period of time with all the implications for loss of business [and] potential redundancies. The effect of what they’re doing would be to effectively destroy a major London institution.” db has reached out to The Crown Estate for comment on the situation. According to its website, its overall portfolio value as of the end of 2024 was £15.5 billion.
