The number of new restaurants opening in London last year was almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
In 2023, 253 new restaurants were opened in the capital, 4% more than in the previous year and 13% more than in 2021. For comparison, 281 new eateries opened their doors in 2019, according to data compiled by Hot Dinners, a London restaurant website, and property adviser Robert Irving Burns.
The vast majority of new openings were upmarket, expensive establishments, with almost half in the W1 postcode.
However, a raft of high-profile restaurants have been forced to shut in what experts say is the worst start to a year they have seen.
The closures have been blamed on “huge rent and overheads”, with Manchester’s nightlife tsar, Sasha Lord, warning that this was the “tip of the iceberg”.
