12 hours ago
10pm is the new 7: restaurants open late as Londoners stay out
If New York is the city that never sleeps, London is the city that likes to go to bed early.
Restrictive licensing laws, residents' eagerness to file noise complaints, staffing issues, high rents and a cost of living crisis have combined to leave the capital with a sedate late-night offering.
But as pubs close earlier and there are fewer dancefloors on which to shake your hips, another gathering place is emerging for those wanting to kick back into the wee hours — the restaurant table.
Central London is far from the 24-hour party envisaged by Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor, and the 7pm to 8pm reservations window remains the most coveted, but upmarket restaurants are offering later booking slots as demand rises.
Mountain in Soho, described as the 'most exciting restaurant this year' in a 2023 Times review, has pushed back its last reservation slot to 10.30pm.
Tomos Parry, the owner, who also founded Brat in Shoreditch, said he was encouraged by the green shoots of a late-night dining revival.
'It's not back to those massive numbers and super-late night dining of the 1990s and 2000s but it is certainly starting to come back,' he said. 'II would love late-night dining to come back much stronger.'
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Parry said that the demand was driven partly by the return of a post-theatre dining crowd. Tourists staying at the growing crop of city-centre hotels and keen to try the city's most-hyped restaurants were also more willing to take slots after 9pm.
Speedboat Bar, a thriving restaurant styled on a Thai sports bar, also accepts bookings at 10.30pm. On Friday and Saturday, it offers a late-night food menu from 11pm to 12.30am.
At the recently-opened Noodle and Beer in Chinatown, tables can be reserved until 1.45am on Saturdays.
At the Dover, a New York-styled Italian restaurant, guests can book a table until 11.30pm from Thursday to Saturday, when it will be between 80 and 90 per cent full.
Jeremy King, one of Britain's most respected restaurateurs, who founded The Wolseley, The Delaunay, The Ivy and Le Caprice, called last month for a return to 1980s excess.
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Recalling how, when he started in hospitality in the 1970s, last orders were often taken at 1am, King said: 'Now, it's almost impossible to get anything [to eat] after 10pm. I don't fully understand why it happened but I'm determined to redress the situation.'
King has begun offering a 25 per cent discount for those who dine after 9.45pm at his restaurants, Arlington and The Park.
'I want to encourage people to rediscover the fun of late-night dining,' he told the Sunday Times.
The shift towards earlier dining in London's restaurants was hastened by the Covid-19 pandemic, which upended the hospitality sector and changed dining habits to such an extent that the efforts of King and others may be futile.
Healthy lifestyle choices are leading diners to prioritise sleep over late-night indulgence and flexible working has helped make 6pm — before the evening rush — an increasingly desirable slot. Earlier reservations are popular with parents and a younger crowd who often drink less and may not bookend meals with drinks elsewhere.
In May, online booking site OpenTable reported a 6 per cent increase from January for tables between 4pm and 6pm across Britain. Leading restaurants have embraced the change to get people through the doors earlier.
At Portland, a Michelin star restaurant in Fitzrovia, those who book between 5.30pm and 6.30pm are offered a special menu at £55, rather than its normal £110-per-head tasting menu.
