Chef Michel Roux has announced the upcoming closure of the iconic Le Gavroche restaurant site at 43 Upper Brook Street. After 56 years of trading, the restaurant will close its doors in January 2024, although the ‘Le Gavroche’ name will continue to be a familiar presence in pop-ups both at home and abroad, as well as in Michel’s other ventures.
Michel, who has been at the helm of the restaurant since 1991, has taken the decision to close the restaurant site to make time for a better work/life balance, enabling him to spend more time with his family without the daily demands of a busy Michelin-starred restaurant.
Chef Patron Michel Roux said, “This decision has not been made lightly. Le Gavroche means so much, not just to myself and the Roux family but to the wider Gavroche team and our guests, who have become family over so many years. The end of the current lease gave me the opportunity to assess and consider the future, and I’d like the restaurant to close on a high.
It’s about turning the page and moving forward so I can focus on my family and other business ventures. This is not the end of Le Gavroche – the restaurant may be closing, but the name will live on, as will the Roux dynasty.”
The closure at Upper Brook Street will also allow Michel more time to concentrate on the other Roux businesses. The family will retain Le Gavroche brand and the limited company and will use it for special events and pop-ups, private and public, in different locations, potentially around the World
These businesses include Chez Roux – famed for its stunning hospitality at prestigious sporting events; it has expanded to offer unparalleled catering at home or chosen venue as well as cookery classes and culinary consultancy from a hand-picked team led by Emily and Michel Roux.
Michel will continue to head up the F & B operations at The Langham, London; working with the ICMI Hotel Group operating the Roux restaurants in Scotland; consulting for Compass Group and catering at major sporting events with them, including the Wimbledon Championships.
Le Gavroche restaurant staff, which Michel considers family, will be going through redundancy consultations over the next few weeks. For those staff who do not qualify for redundancy, Michel will ensure they are properly looked after too.
Michel will continue to operate the Le Gavroche brand for special events and pop-ups, which will soon include taking Le Gavroche to the sea in collaboration with Cunard, and he will continue to write cookbooks and create television series.
Guests at Caractère, the restaurant belonging to Michel’s daughter Emily Roux and husband, Diego Ferrari, will also be able to experience Michel’s cooking at special events.
“I am pleased to have made this decision and excited to take Le Gavroche on the road, to be a master of Le Gavroche rather than it being my master,” says Michel.
There will be a series of public dinners celebrating the menus over the decades since the restaurant opened, which will start this November and go through until the restaurant’s closure in January next year.
Le Gavroche is an industry titan, having opened under the legendary Roux brothers, the late Albert Roux OBE and Michel Roux Sr OBE, in 1967.
Its influence on London and, indeed, the UK hospitality scene cannot be overstated – it was the very first restaurant in the UK to be awarded one, two, and then three Michelin stars, changing the face of the UK restaurant scene and paving the way for modern hospitality as we know it.
Known as “the last bastion in London of classically rich French haute cuisine,” the restaurant today holds two Michelin stars (the longest restaurant in the UK to do so), alongside a host of honours, spanning from inclusion in various World’s 50 Best lists to the Laurent Perrier Award of Excellence, Tatler Restaurant Awards – Most Consistently Excellent Restaurant, and a Lifetime Achievement Award for its Chef Patron, Michel Roux.
Le Gavroche is known for its culinary excellence, illustrious pedigree, and inimitable guest experience. For over five decades, Le Gavroche has resolutely remained an iconic figure as the World changed around it – through recessions, depressions, IRA bombings, the gentrification of Greater London, the Covid-19 pandemic, the introduction of online consumer reviews and blogs, and the rise of social media.
Over half a century, the Roux family’s influence and reputation for incomparable French fine dining has taken London’s dining scene from almost non-existent to cementing it as one of the world’s food capitals.
As a London institution, Le Gavroche has attracted some of the finest UK and international culinary talent to its kitchen, including the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Marcus Wareing, Pierre Koffman, Monica Galetti, Jun Tanaka, Bryn Williams, Phil Howard, Stephen Terry, Rowley Leigh, Paul Rankin, and Brian Maule.
Some of hospitality’s most familiar names have passed through the doors of Le Gavroche, including former Maître D’ Silvano Giraldin, who was as much a staple at Le Gavroche as the Roux family. Having been one of the longest-serving managers in the history of London’s restaurants, Silvano retired after 37 years in 2008.
The restaurant’s current Executive Chef, Rachel Humphrey, has been in the Le Gavroche family since 1996 when she joined as an apprentice before being appointed as the restaurant’s first-ever female Head Chef 12 years later. The current Restaurant Managers, much-loved identical twins Silvia and Ursula Perberschlager, have been at Le Gavroche for well over twenty years.
For the next few months, Michel and the team at Le Gavroche will be hosting a series of exclusive events to ensure the restaurant goes out in style, ensuring he can thank the guests and teams that have supported the restaurant over the decades and ensured its continued success.
The dinners, which will be open to the public, will commence in November and run through until the restaurant’s closure in January next year, will celebrate the restaurant’s menus throughout the years, as well as including family members and familiar faces that have previously worked at Le Gavroche.
There are also plans for an industry charity event to mark the end of this restaurant’s era. Details for all events will be announced on the Le Gavroche website and e-newsletters.
Having played host to countless birthdays, proposals, weddings, and anniversaries, there will be a special dedication page on the Le Gavroche website for anyone who would like to upload their own words and photos of significant meals, celebrations, and memories of the restaurant which will be read and shared by Michel and his team.
Photograph of Michel Roux by Amit and Naroop.
Read more culinary news, guides and reviews here.