One of the West End’s biggest restaurant sites has been permanently shut down by Marco Pierre White’s hospitality business.
Mr White’s “steak, pizza and gin house” on Leicester Square is closed and empty after becoming the latest victim of the remorseless cull of restaurants since the pandemic.
The 14,500sq ft venue across two floors opened in late 2021 at a former Chiquito site and was billed as the TV chef’s first return to the West End in a decade.
Although he was not directly involved in the 600 cover venue, it was run by Black & White Hospitality, the company he set up with entrepreneur Nick Taplin. The company runs nearly 30 restaurants around the UK.
According to the Restaurant news website Black & White spent £1.5 million on fitting it out and paid a seven figure rent to landlords Soho Estates.
The menu focused on steaks, grills and pizzas. Marco Pierre White was Britain’s first three Michelin starred chef and owned the Criterion Restaurant in Piccadilly Circus from 2001 to 2009.
Mr White’s was ordered to close temporarily last July when health inspectors found rat droppings in the kitchen.
There was no response to request for comment from Black & White Hospitality. But it has said in the past that it plans to open more restaurants in 2024, including a a Marco’s New York Italian in a new 127 bedroom Holiday inn in Blackpool.
At the time of opening in October 2021 towards the end of the pandemic Taplin said: “Opportunities like this are very rare s we had to act fast...This is arguably one of the most iconic areas of London and is known worldwide as the place to go for entertainment. around 2.5 minion people visit Leicester Square every week, so it is one the capital’s busiest places.”
