UK’s oldest Indian restaurant takes crown estate to court over theatened eviction

The UK’s oldest Indian restaurant will be taking the crown estate to court this month as it faces eviction.

Veeraswamy has been serving up curries on Regent Street in London for a century, but now faces closure as the property portfolio owned by King Charles has refused to renew its lease.

The restaurant opened in April 1926 and has served guests including Winston Churchill, Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando, Laurence Olivier, Charlie Chaplin and even Queen Elizabeth II.

The menu was created by the Indian-born Edward Palmer, who was inspired by the recipes for the dishes served at the royal palace of Hyderabad, which he had learned from his grandmother.

It is even claimed that the habit of having a pint with a curry in England began at the restaurant, which now has a Michelin star. According to the owners, the king of Denmark used to visit Veeraswamy whenever he came to London – he decided to ship out a cask of Carlsberg beer to be stored at the restaurant and served to him whenever he ate curry.

It survived the blitz and the peaks and troughs of the competitive restaurant sector, but now faces the culmination of a year-long legal battle after the crown estate declined to renew the restaurant’s £205,000-a-year lease last year.

The case could lead to the restaurant in Victory House being converted into office space.

Veeraswamy’s parent company MW Eat will be presenting its case to the central London county court in a five-day hearing beginning on 29 June.

The estate said it wanted to carry out a “comprehensive refurbishment” of the offices on the building’s upper floors, which have been empty since a flood affected their power supply in 2023.

This would involve knocking down the wall that separates the entrance to Veeraswamy and the entrance to the offices to create a larger reception area for office tenants, which would allow it to “materially increase” the rents it can charge.

But the owners of the restaurant, which has operated in the space since 1926, say the works could be done without evicting them.

In a witness statement, Ranjit Mathrani, the co-owner of MW Eat, said: “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.”