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Italian restaurant chain Spaghetti House has been a familiar sight in London for decades, but after 70 years of serving pizza and pasta in the capital, the restaurant group will be shutting its doors in an ‘increasingly challenging environment’.
Spaghetti House opened its first site on Goodge Street way back in 1955, and was one of the first spots to introduce Londoners to traditional Italian food. Founders Simone Lavarini and Lorenzo Fraquelli hoped to bring an authentic-style trattoria to the city where diners could indulge in home-cooked pasta, washed down with a digestif, and went on to open sites in Mayfair, Fitzrovia, Marble Arch, Carnaby Street, Oxford Street, Kensington High Street and Cranbourn Street.
As of this week, restaurant company Lavval Restaurants Ltd announced that it has entered administration and has ceased trading, with all of its restaurants due to shut their doors. According to reports, the company had already shut its sites in Mayfair, Goodge Street and Fitzrovia before corporate restructuring firm Begbies Traynor was brought in to help close down the business and the remaining restaurants.
In a statement on its website, Spaghetti House says: ‘Over the past few years, we have done everything in our power to navigate an increasingly challenging environment. A combination of sustained cost increases, the lasting effects of COVID-19, Brexit, and ongoing global instability, has fundamentally reshaped the landscape for restaurants in central London.
‘At the same time, rising costs of living have placed pressure on our customers, with changing lifestyles and reduced disposable income impacting how often people are able to dine out. Like many in our sector, we have faced the difficult balance of increasing prices while seeing a reduction in customer visits.’
The chain said it had explored all available options and sought extensive professional advice before arriving at the decision to shutter .
Spaghetti House is not the only hospitality business in London to suffer under the cost-of-living crisis and an increasingly unviable business environment. Chef Heston Blumenthal announced earlier this year that he would be shutting Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, his restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel, in 2027, partly due to budget struggles and rising food prices. It comes after a wave of high-profile London restaurant closures in 2025.
Spaghetti House London locations that have now shut
- Marble Arch, W1H
- Carnaby Street, W1F
- Oxford Street, W1C
- Kensington High Street, W8
- Cranbourn Street, WC2H
The best restaurants in London for pasta, according to Time Out.
In better news, Mayfair’s restaurant scene is cool again.
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