Godfather actor Marlon Brando once dined in Veeraswamy which could be turned into offices
The Daily Star is today launching a balti battle to save the birthplace of Britain’s love of curry’n’beer. The UK’s first Indian restaurant – which introduced the nation’s No1 favourite food to Blighty – faces being shut down and turned into offices.
Mahatma Gandhi was one of Veeraswamy’s first customers, it carried on dishing up grub to Londoners as bombs dropped in the Blitz and celebrity fans included Sir Winston Churchill and The Godfather actor Marlon Brando.
Most importantly it started the Brit tradition of washing down a curry with a lager. Prince Axel of Denmark liked to drink Carlsberg at the restaurant in the 1920s – triggering a century-long trait. Plans to shut it down are set to spark a right Royal argy-bhaji.
More than 18,000 have signed a petition to save the restaurant which campaigners plan to present to King Charles IIIat the gates of Buckingham Palace.
The Daily Star has joined celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc, Michel Roux and Richard Corrigan in calling for a u-turn over the future of the curry house which was founded in 1926 and still in its original location on London’s Regent Street.
It faces not having its lease renewed by its landlord the Crown Estate – an independent property company profits from which go to the Treasury – which plans to refurbish the building and wants to turn the space occupied by the Michelin-starred eaterie into offices.
Corrigan said: “Most European cities cherish their legendary restaurants.
“Why in the name of God would we want to lose Veeraswamy?”
The bust-up threatens to put the King on a collision course with Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
The petition calls on the monarch to ‘protect a historic institution’ and save a ‘symbol of Indo-British cultural connections’ as the restaurant approaches its 100th birthday next month.
Lucy Haine, chair of the Soho Society which campaigns to protect the area’s distinctive character, is backing ‘the fight to keep this iconic London restaurant open and trading for future generations’.
She said closing it would be a ‘major loss to London’s history and culinary heritage’ with the society wanting it recognised as an ‘asset of community value’.
Though Indian restaurants are now a UK staple when Veeraswamy opened it was a ground-breaker.
Initially appealing to ex-pats in London who missed home cooking it counted Gandhi and India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru among early customers.
The fashionable West End venue attracted celebrity VIPs including actors Brando and Charlie Chaplin and more recently Princess Anne, David Cameron and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Its chefs have catered for Buckingham Palace’s guests.
Veeraswamy brought in the UK’s first tandoor oven and in 1959 rustling up chicken tandoori for the equivalent of 52p.
Co-owner Ranjit Mathrani said it ‘broke the ice’ for Indian restaurants across the UK and had played an ‘important part’ in customers’ lives.
He said: “We have people coming in to say, ‘I first came here with my godfather when I was aged 12’ or, ‘I was engaged here during the Blitz’, or ‘I came here because my uncle brought me here in the 1950s’.”
Mathrani hopes the King will have a ‘quiet word’ to save it.
In 2001 Britain declared chicken tikka masala its national dish. Around 23 million Brits eat curry every day. Indian food pumps £5bn into the UK economy.
A Crown Estate spokesman said it understood its change-of-use decision was ‘disappointing’ for the restaurant and it has offered to help find alternative premises in the West End plus financial compensation.
“We need to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment of Victory House to both bring it up to modern standards and into full use,” they said, adding so far there had been no alternative proposal which met ‘our responsibilities to manage public money’.
They said it was ‘not a decision we’ve taken lightly’.
Without an agreed settlement the dispute could end up in court with the restaurant challenging the non-renewal of its lease.
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