Social Eating House to close at the end of the month
The restaurant, located on Poland Street, will close after 11 years with the restaurant’s executive chef Alex Parker moving over to Atherton’s Pollen Street Social restaurant in Mayfair, which is relaunching in the autumn as Mary’s.
Social Eating House was launched in partnership with Atherton’s then head chef Paul Hood in April 2013 and has a ground floor restaurant, subterranean chef’s table and a first-floor destination cocktail bar called the Blind Pig. Elements of the restaurant will be transferred over to Mary’s, which will be home to a Blind Pig bar.
Last year Hood announced he was leaving the restaurant after 10 years in charge.
Speaking of the closure, Atherton said that the Social Eating House brand was not one that he wanted to expand and that its closure would mean he could focus on his upcoming projects. These include gourmet hot dog counter Hot Dogs by Three Darlings in Harrods, modern British brasserie Sael on the former Aquavit site in London’s St James’s Market development, neighbourhood-style bistro Three Darlings on Pavilion Road in London’s Chelsea, and high-end restaurant Row on 5 on London’s Savile Row, which he is opening in partnership with Spencer Metzger, former head chef at The Ritz.
“Social Eating House was launched for Paul, and now that he is longer with us, I don’t feel the need to keep it open,” says Atherton. “Social Eating House is not a concept I want to expand, unlike some of the others in the group.”
The site is understood to be taken over by vegetarian restaurant group Mildred’s, which currently operates a restaurant on Soho’s Lexington Street.
The restaurateur also recently closed his Harrods Social by Jason Atherton, saying that the department store wanted to open its cafe on the site.
