Diners forgo cars to save garden restaurant

Madonna, Mick Jagger and Mario Testino can breathe a sigh of relief. The future of their favourite London alfresco dining spot is secure today after a four-year planning battle.

The restaurant at Petersham Nurseries, near Richmond Park, was threatened with closure after residents complained to Richmond council that clients were blocking nearby roads with their cars.

Owners Gael and Francesco Boglione then urged thousands of diners to arrive by bicycle, bus, river boat or foot, cutting car travel by a quarter in the past year. The council said the nurseries' travel plan produced "impressive results" and granted it a permanent licence to run as a garden centre and a dining room.

Neighbours including actor Richard E Grant backed the campaign to save the restaurant, and the Bogliones received more than 200 letters of support and almost 17,000 petition signatures. Their customers enjoy delicacies such as squid with chorizo, saffron, fennel and tomatoes while surrounded by tree ferns, jasmine and greenhouses.

Head chef Skye Gyngell, who is also Vogue's food editor, has received rave reviews since she opened the café five years ago, serving 15 people at a time and using a four-burner stove. It was named Time Out's Best Alfresco Restaurant 2005 and Tatler's Most Original Restaurant 2006. It grew to cater for up to 120 diners, but when the Ham and Petersham Association complained about noise and congestion, the council realised the garden centre had no restaurant licence.

Planning officials asked the Bogliones to apply for a "mixed use" licence for the garden centre and café retrospectively and granted a temporary one in the meantime in November 2007.

Mr Boglione, an insurance broker, said: "Our only regret is that this has been a long, labour intensive and expensive process for both ourselves and the taxpayers." A council spokesman said: "The application was complex and it is important that sufficient time was given."

The Bogliones bought the nurseries' house and its three-acre grounds in the mid-Nineties and the adjacent nursery in 2001 after developers expressed an interest in the land.