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| The Grande Dame of NW1 is sold
off |
Café Delancey owner sells
‘pioneering’ restaurant
ONE of Camden’s landmark restaurants, Café Delancey
has been sold.
Owner Tatiana Von Saxe has revealed that the restaurant in Delancey
Street will close on August 14.
The New Journal reported in March that the building was up for sale
with a price of around £2 million being rumoured. But it wasn’t
until Monday that Ms Von Saxe finally confirmed that a sale had
been agreed.
She said: “Like all good things in life the time has come for
it to take a final bow as its premises have now been sold.”
Ms Von Saxe, chief restaurant critic for the New Journal, said:
“Back in 1984, Café Delancey pioneered what it is much
in vogue today: a place which is open from breakfast to dinner and
where guests order what they want without the constraints of a restaurant.
The Café Delancey was unique then and continues to be because
of its principles.”
She added: “I hope the public will seek to patronise establishments
offering what in my view should be the norm rather than the exception.”
Ms Von Saxe has been in control of the restaurant since 1984 and
is also director of Delancey Press, a publishing firm based in Delancey
Passage, next to Café Delancey.
A potential sale was rumoured two years ago but reportedly fell
through when a planning proposal to adapt the building was abandoned.
Approval has since been given to alter the inside of the building
or even demolish it.
The permission expires in 2008 and allows the building to be replaced
with a three-storey block of flats and a Mews House. But it is unclear
what the café’s future owner plans for the venue.
Ms Von Saxe said: “The Café has been privileged to have
wonderful clients and personnel. It is like a large family with
lots of friends. The Grande Dame of the NW1 eating and drinking
scene retires gracefully with the most wonderful memories and anecdotes
of 21 years.” |
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