It’s been an interesting few years for the premises at One Leicester Street, London. Enjoying a long run as one of the last remaining West End theatre restaurants, Manzi’s, it was sold in 2007 to Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver, the chaps behind nose-to-tail restaurant sensation St John Bar and Restaurant. The pair gave the place, which is something of a curious mix of fine dining and accommodation, a lovely makeover and battled valiantly to keep the venue alive, earning a Michelin star for the restaurant. Sadly the economy got the better of them, and in stepped Peng Loh’s hotel supergroup Unlisted Collection with formidable financial muscle and ideas of their own about which way to take things. Enter Unlisted’s very own West End revival, One Leicester Street.
Fergus and Trevor have exited stage left, but chef Tom Harris is still running the show in the kitchen. Business as usual in the smart, shuttered windowed dining room then, and the theatrical signs outside tell you what sort of things you will find on the menu. Unlisted haven’t tried to fix what wasn’t broken in the bedroom department either, keeping many features introduced by the previous regime such as the white wooden panelling – a notable exception being the flooring which is now warmer and a little less nautical. Here’s hoping that One Leicester Street enjoys packed houses under its new stewardship.
