Holland Park favourite Julie’s to reopen next year
The Holland Park venue closed in January this year after 53 years following the retirement of owners Timothy and Cathy Herring.
The new custodian of the business is local resident Tara MacBain, a Cordon Bleu-trained chef and long-standing Julie’s regular.
She says she is determined to bring the effortless elegance of the original restaurant back to the forefront of London culture, with an all-day dining menu consisting of decadent seafood towers and oysters sourced from the UK and France, along with a theatrical Martini trolley.
In its new guise, the Portland Road restaurant will operate as a modern French brasserie, offering 160 covers across a ground floor dining room and bar, basement dining area and alfresco terrace.
The wine list will appeal to the capital’s oenophiles ‘with a selection of the finest bottles, sourced from renowned international wineries along with a selection of lesser known emerging brands’.
To 'reinvent Julie’s for a new generation', interior designer Rosanna Bossom has ‘breathed life into the space’ with warm yellow and gold tones bathing the restaurant in light.
Guests will be greeted by a ‘striking’ bespoke chandelier made from hammered cast iron leaves and an oyster shell decorated bar.
Other design details include antique mirrored walls, embroidered leather chairs and stools and a glazed volcanic bar top.
“I feel so grateful for the opportunity to reimagine this iconic restaurant, especially one that is so close to my heart,” MacBain says.
"Julie’s has become a West London institution and I look forward to continuing its legacy. It is also no coincidence that our launch team consists almost entirely of West Londoners - it is so important to me that everyone involved in the project holds Julie’s to the same esteem and that we continue its unique story.”
Julie’s was first opened by interior designer Julie Hodges in November 1969, and gradually built a reputation for being a celeb hangout with Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Moss and Diana, Princess of Wales counted among its regulars.
In 1972, Hodges sold the restaurant to the Herrings, who have run it ever since.
