Ed Sheeran to turn London restaurant into gastro pub

Pop star Ed Sheeran has secured a new alcohol licence for his Notting Hill restaurant Bertie Blossoms, allowing those not dining to buy a drink.

Bertie Blossoms, located on Notting Hill’s famed Portobello Road, opened last year after rumours began circulating in March. 

Sheeran and his manager Stuart Camp bought the former Spanish restaurant Galicia, which closed in April 2018, for an alleged £1.5 million,

A licence alteration application was submitted in November 2019 to extend the ability of the restaurant to sell alcohol.

Approved on 13 January, the licence now gives staff at the restaurant the right to serve alcohol to customers seated at tables, including the bar area. Previously alcohol could only be sold to those eating at the restaurant.

Alcohol can now be sold at the site from 10am to midnight from Monday to Friday, from 11am to midnight on Saturday and from noon to 11:30pm on Sunday. Late night refreshments can be provided from 11pm to 12:30am from Monday to Saturday and from 11pm to midnight on Sundays.

While the restaurant has found favour with celebrities since its opening, critics have been less kind. Jimi Famurewa in the Evening Standard called the menu “waywardly Mediterranean”, while The Times critic Marina O’Loughlin said it was the “without doubt the oddest restaurant” she’d been to in a long time.