One in three restaurants 'making loss'

SCORES of recession-hit restaurants in London face closure next month, the Standard can reveal.

Landlords will tomorrow issue eviction notices to businesses which have failed to pay rent as the first quarter of the year draws to an end. In a day being called "Black Wednesday" by industry insiders, restaurateurs are contemplating having to shut after struggling to pay their rent during the first three months.

The Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Group, which owns properties in Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Pimlico, is one company preparing to send out eviction notices to restaurants.

It comes as a report by government-funded agency Business Link found that a third of London's restaurants were operating at a loss.

Several have been forced to close over the past few weeks, including the King's Cross Grille and two West End branches of the Gourmet Hot Dog Company. Masala Chat in Soho and Sushi-bar Shoal in Fitzrovia have also gone up for sale.