Reply To: Ivy West End

[JDB]

The people who made the Ivy work were Jeremy King and Chris Corbin and, while the magic continued for a while after their departure, it has unsurprisingly turned to dust as the restaurants are now run by accountants and property people. The duo’s attention to detail, omnipresence and ability to create real atmosphere is so clearly now absent.

Chris was already stepping back but Jeremy is very much back on the scene with the Caprice shortly to be reopened (albeit under the name Arlington, as the Ivy owner has retained the Caprice name) together with a new brasserie – Park – at the top of Queensway plus a relaunch of Simpson’s in the Strand. If anyone wishes to eat well at fairish prices, enjoy buzzy, sophisticated places and be well looked after, whoever you are, these places will be more suitable than the decaying Ivy chain.