UK’s oldest Indian restaurant threatened with closure
Veeraswamy, which has been based in Victory House in Leicester Square since 1926, could be forced to move as The Crown Estate prepares to refurbish the building.
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Founded by Edward Palmer, the great-grandson of the first Governor General of India, Veeraswamy has existed on 99 Regent Street for 99 years. An advert for its opening, in March 1926, described its offering as “clean Indian and English food, good wines, and oriental coffee”.
The restaurant also holds one Michelin Star, with the guide noting: “You can expect to find cuisine from all parts of India, including cleverly enhanced street snacks and stand-out dishes inspired by royal recipes. Top quality British produce is often used, such as Welsh lamb for the Kashmiri rogan josh.”
However, just shy of its centenary, the historic restaurant could be forced out of its home building for a 12 month period as The Crown Estate, which handles the holdings owned by the British monarchy, prepares for a “comprehensive refurbishment” of Victory House.
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The Crown Estate owns the building and, as reported in The Times, it informed Veeraswamy owner MW Eat last summer that it would not be renewing the restaurant’s lease.
The Crown Estate plans to extend the reception area for the offices above the restaurant, which would necessitate encroaching into Veeraswamy’s entrance. The offices in question have not been occupied since 2023.
ME Eat co-owner Ranjit Mathrani told The Times that he believed that The Crown Estate found it “tiresome” to have a restaurant in the property, adding: “We’ll have to close down and then seek to revive it in a new site after whatever period of time with all the implications for loss of business [and] potential redundancies. The effect of what they’re doing would be to effectively destroy a major London institution.”
db reached out to The Crown Estate for comment on the situation and was sent the following statement: “The Crown Estate has a duty to generate value for the nation, while acting as responsible stewards for this historic part of London. We need to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment of Victory House. This includes a major upgrade to the offices and improving the entrance to make it more accessible.”
“Due to the limited options available in this listed building we need to remove the entrance to the restaurant, which means we will not be able to offer Veeraswamy an extension when their lease expires,” the spokesperson continued. “We appreciate this is upsetting for Veeraswamy and have offered to help find new premises elsewhere on our portfolio having explored other options to accommodate their needs. Veeraswamy has been a valued part of Regent Street for many years. We thank them and their customers for their contributions to the West End.”
According to its website, The Crown Estate’s overall portfolio value as of the end of 2024 was £15.5 billion.
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