Native calls on public to help launch new restaurant after sudden closure

Farewell: The Covent Garden site closes its doors
( James Mason)
Lizzie Thomson5 September 2018

Neal's Yard restaurant Native was forced to abruptly close its doors earlier this month after the council rejected its application for a permanent lease, but now the team behind it are turning to Kickstarter to fund their future.

Despite having served Londoners at the site since 2016, owners Imogen Davies and Ivan Tisdall-Downes' application was denied when Camden council told them the area had too many restaurants. After closing on May 19, the pair are calling on the public to help fund their relocation to London Bridge.

Davies told the Standard: “We were on a flexible planning lease which is like a temporary planning lease.

“It was in the process of being changed so it could be a permanent restaurant, which was always the plan. Then we were told it had been rejected due to too many restaurants being in the area.”

“We had a month to find a new site and organise ourselves to move.”

Despite the short notice, the business has secured a new site at 34 Southwark Street with a 60 seat capacity – a considerably larger venue compared to their 25 seat Covent Garden restaurant. Davies and Tisdall-Downes are hoping the generosity of the public will help make the transition to the new site as easy as possible.

The team have launched a crowd funding page to cover staff wages and pay for new cutlery, crockery and furniture to fill the bigger space. As a thank you, those who pledge can get something back from the restaurant; including a discounted tasting menu.

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If the team don’t hit the crowd-funding target they say they will make do with the furniture they presently own.

Davies said: “We built native ourselves, we built the tables and we built the chairs. We’ve always done everything ourselves and we are just asking for a little bit of help.

“If we don’t manage to hit the target, we’ll just make do and stay open because we love our customers coming in and enjoying the Native experience and food.”

Native’s new Southwark Street restaurant opens on June 5. Donate to the Kickstarter page here.

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