Veeraswamy, the UK's oldest Indian restaurant, opened on Regent Street in 1926 and survived the Blitz. Now it faces a legal battle to avoid closure. The Crown Estate, the property portfolio owned by King Charles, refused to renew the restaurant's £205,000-a-year lease last year, triggering a year-long dispute that will culminate in a five-day hearing at the central London county court starting 29 June.
The restaurant has served Winston Churchill, Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and Queen Elizabeth II. Its menu, created by Indian-born Edward Palmer, was inspired by recipes from the royal palace of Hyderabad. It is even claimed that the habit of having a pint with a curry in England began here: the king of Denmark used to ship a cask of Carlsberg beer to be stored at the restaurant and served whenever he visited.
“UK's oldest Indian restaurant fights eviction in court after Crown Estate refuses lease renewal.”
But the Crown Estate wants to carry out a “comprehensive refurbishment” of the offices on the upper floors of Victory House, where Veeraswamy is located. Those offices have been empty since a flood affected their power supply in 2023. The estate's plan involves knocking down the wall that separates the restaurant's entrance from the office entrance to create a larger reception area for office tenants, allowing it to “materially increase” the rents it can charge.
Ranjit Mathrani, co-owner of Veeraswamy's parent company MW Eat, said in a witness statement: “It is well within the competence of many reputable contractors to deliver the defendant’s programme of works in a manner which could accommodate the restaurant business. This is a standard part of many similar refurbishments in London and elsewhere in the UK.” The restaurant has proposed sharing the larger entrance and matching whatever rent the Crown Estate believes it can charge, but the estate has refused.
Speaking earlier this year, Mathrani accused the Crown Estate of failing to engage in a “meaningful and constructive manner”. He told the outlet Restaurant: “We have also suggested that their experts meet with ours to explore a solution, but they now say they have done all the necessary research and that a meeting would be pointless. This is truly astonishing and unreasonable.” A spokesperson for the Crown Estate said: “We need to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment of Victory House to both bring it up to modern standards, and into full use. We understand how disappointing this is for MW Eat and have offered help to find new premises on our portfolio so that the restaurant can stay in the West End as well as financial compensation.”
In February, campaigners delivered a 20,000-signature petition to Buckingham Palace requesting King Charles's intervention. The court will now decide whether a century of curry on Regent Street comes to an end.