Paco Tapas in Bristol and the Angel in Dartmouth are among the prominent restaurants to announce their closure this week, with Tom Kerridge’s Butcher’s Tap & Grill in Chelsea and the two Chick’n’Sours sites in London also shutting up shop.
The loss of Paco Tapas means Peter Sanchez-Iglesias (pictured) and his family no longer have a restaurant in their home city for the first time since his parents, Paco and Sue, opened Casamia in 1999. Casamia, which shared a waterside site with Paco Tapas, was the UK’s No 1 restaurant on the Harden’s 100 list in six years ago, but closed in 2022.
Peter, Paco and Sue announced the latest closure in social media post, saying: “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that Paco Tapas is closing with immediate effect. This decision has not come easily, and it marks the end of a chapter filled with incredible memories, dedicated teamwork, and the joy of sharing our passion for Spanish food and hospitality with all of you.”
Peter also runs Mexican-inspired restaurant Decimo at the Standard hotel, opposite London’s King’s Cross station.
Meanwhile, the owners of the Angel announced that it will close following the departure of head chef Elly Wentworth, who is moving across Devon to head the kitchens at Fowlescombe Farm luxury hotel and regenerative farm near Ivybridge and its sister pub, the Millbrook Inn at South Pool.
The mock-Tudor institution found national fame as the Carved Angel under pioneering chef Joyce Molyneux, who ran it from 1974 to 1999. Well-known chefs including John Burton-Race and Alan Murchison followed her at the venue.
The Angel’s locally based owners, the Holland Group, set July 6th as the closure date, saying: “Shifting consumer tastes and increasingly difficult trading conditions have made it harder for restaurants like The Angel, in its current form, to remain sustainable. Fine dining is, and always has been, a labour of love — but it is also a resource-heavy and costly model that is particularly sensitive to the current economic climate.”
In the capital, Tom Kerridge announced the closure of the Butcher’s Tap from June 1st, citing the “challenging climate hospitality businesses now face” – while the current Harden’s guide noted customer resistance to its “extraordinary prices“. However, a follow-up announcement revealed that Tom will reopen the pub on June 16th as The Chalk Freehouse, which will “commemorate the beauty of traditional British gastropub dining”.
The kitchen will be led by Tom De Keyser, currently head chef at the Kerridge group’s flagship, The Hand & Flowers in Marlow. It will serve what promises to be a more standard three-course menu in place of the current grill-based selection of steaks, burgers and skewers; a lunchtime set menu will be available with two courses for £18.50 or three for £25.
Chick ‘n’ Sours, which combines Korean-style fried chicken with cocktails, has closed its two bricks-and- mortar sites in Haggerston (where it opened 10 years ago) and Covent Garden, but will retain its presence at Corner Corner food hall in Canada Water and a mobile truck for festivals and pop-ups. Its menu will also be available via delivery platforms.
Co-founder David Wolanski said the business had “hung in there as long as we could“, but it made no commercial sense to continue with permanent sites: “the casual dining restaurant model is broken“.