The last time we wrote about the historical Simpsons in the Strand restaurant, it was auctioning off everything from crockery to its famous Drakes silver trolleys, from which joints of beef were served table-side.
Originally opened in 1828 as a smoking room and coffee lounge, the venue evolved into dining rooms, known for hosting chess players (its frontage references a chess board), as well as the likes of Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Simpsons was also a favourite haunt of Sherlock Holmes). But in recent years the restaurant fell on hard times, and despite a refurb in 2017, wound up closing in 2020, later selling off most of its contents.
Now we learn from the Hot Dinners website that Simpsons will once again echo with the clatter of trolleys and the sharpening of meat knives, thanks to a bold relaunch from Jeremy King, restaurateur behind The Ivy, Le Caprice and The Wolseley. Though details are thin on the ground, King has promised that Simpsons will be resurrected in autumn 2025 as two dining rooms (one more formal than the other), two bars, and a ballroom available for private hire. "Big-theatre brasserie" is promised — which you'd assume will involve the carving of meat at tablesides once more.
Now it's just a case of finding whoever got those trolleys at auction, and buying them back...
