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In a year that’s seen a host of great London restaurants closing, we bring you sad news of another.
Bethnal Green’s excellent Italian restaurant Ombra will be shutting its doors at the end of this week, with owners citing rising costs and rates as the reason.
‘In our 15 years at Hackney's canalside we've never traded through an environment quite like the one we're experiencing now,’ said an Instagram post announcing the closure. ‘In the last couple of years we've been consumed by a rising tide of labour costs, utilities, rent hikes, business rate increases and the most stubborn VAT policy in Europe.’
The pasta restaurant, which opened in 2011, was a Time Out favourite. ‘A canalside restaurant that wears its scuffed edges and imperfections with pride, Ombra just might be one of Hackney’s most well-loved restaurants,’ said Time Out’s most recent review.
‘Since Milanese super-chef Mitshel Ibrahim took over in 2018, this unapologetically ramshackle neighbourhood Italian has gone from being a local favourite to a city-wide smash.’
Ombra’s spin-off bakery, Forno, will remain open at sites in Hackney, Leytonstone and at the cafe in the Ragged School Museum in Mile End. Their ‘Brillo’ Friday night pizza evenings at Forno on Andrews Road in Hackney will also continue to run.
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