Sicilian Avenue is one of central London's most delightful surprises.
Smuggled away between Bloomsbury's Southampton Row and Southampton Place, the dainty diagonal shopping parade is a frilly Edwardian nod to Roman classicism — a Disneyesque flourish of ionic columns, sculptural urns, oriel windows and the occasional turret for good measure. Totally unnecessary, utterly charming. The late John Betjeman called the place an "architectural joke", and he meant it in a good way.
Since opening in 1910, Sicilian Avenue has been a strip of bookshops, florists and umbrella merchants — paced by Holborn's great and the good, including locals like Virginia Woolf and Bob Marley. More recent tenants have included the superbly-named Planet of the Grapes wine bar, and a Spaghetti House — both fitting the Italian good life brief, although I'm not sure how many Sicilians might agree, after a plate of spag bol at the latter. During a Londonist visit in 2018, the place was notably pianissimo — sandwich boards scattered hither and thither, but few punters to show for it. Tasteful 'Shop to Let' signs swung above shop doors. Sicilian Avenue was in need of a reboot.
We clearly weren't the only people who thought so, because in spring 2020, Sicilian Avenue was purchased by real estate investment firm Tristan Capital Partners, and soon after closed for "structural adaptation", its tenants tipped out altogether. For four years, this Little Italy has shut up shop — most of its beautiful looks hidden away by hoarding boards — but not for much longer. Acknowledging they've encountered "many challenges" in restoring the partial Grade II-listed avenue buildings, Tristan Capital Partners says it will finally begin to reopen Sicilian Avenue this summer (and yes, summer's as precise a date we're getting for now). There is one final challenge, however: to find some tenants.
None of the boutiques and restaurants that previously called Sicilian Avenue home (including, sadly, the Holborn Whippet pub) will return. And, right now, it seems none are lined up to take their place. 12 commercial units at street level are available for lease to independent traders, with the hope that the first six will open their doors this summer. The dream of course, is chilled glasses of soave in the dappled shade of Sicilian lemon trees, and plates of fresh linguine ferried out from continental-style eateries, while everyone natters away about the latest Stanley Tucci cookery book. But London's a tough nut to crack, even when you're a beautiful Italian with a central London address. Let's hope Sicilian Avenue can regain its zest for life.
