Tast, the Catalan restaurant backed by senior figures at Manchester City, has announced its closure after eight years, as a number of restaurants around the country pull down the shutters for the last time in the face of tough trading conditions.
The restaurant in Manchester’s King Street was backed by the football club’s manager Pep Guardiola (left in picture), its CEO Ferran Soriano (middle left) and former director of football Txiki Begiristain (right), with chef Paco Perez (middle right) overseeing the kitchen.
An announcement on the restaurant’s website read: “After much consideration, we have made the difficult decision to close Tast’s doors for the very last time on 20 December 2025… Like many in the hospitality sector, we have faced exceptionally challenging trading conditions and increased costs.”
In London, Mat Appleton and Jess Blackstone, the duo behind the Fink’s cafe group, are closing their two-year-old neighbourhood restaurant Saltine in Highbury after lunch on Sunday 21 December, saying “the climate for small restaurants is a tough one — tougher than Covid”. They are keeping the premises for events and parties.
In Mayfair’s cute Shepherd Market, wine bar The White Horse – owned by Tatiana Fokina and Evgeny Chichvarkin, the couple behind restaurant Hide and Hedonism wines – is closing down on Friday 19 December because the landlord has redevelopment plans.
Further west, one of London’s longest-serving Indian restaurants, Annapurna on the Chiswick High Road, has closed after 55 years. Co-owner Motin Uddin Ahmed blamed “the cost of living – rent, rates, all of it” – allied to the loss of weekday trade from nearby Chiswick Business Park as a result of staff working from him. His father, Bashir Ahmed, opened the restaurant in 1970.