One of London’s oldest and most decadent “rock and roll restaurants” is reopening after a four-year closure in time for its 50th anniversary party.
Julie’s in Holland Park — a favourite of Sir Mick Jagger, Sir Paul McCartney, Kate Moss, Princess Diana and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — shut down abruptly in early 2015 for what was originally planned to be a six-month refurbishment. But a series of planning and building delays meant it instead stood empty for years.
Now a multi-million-pound refurbishment is complete and it will formally reopen later this month.
Freeholder Tim Herring and his wife Cathy have owned Julie’s since it opened in November 1969. Mr Herring said he was “very excited” about the reopening and said the restaurant’s longevity was down to “good fortune and our determination not to change the image and style as it’s always been our property and our restaurant”.
The venue was named after its first proprietor, the interior designer Julie Hodgess, who gave the restaurant its trademark bohemian look.
The refurbished venue still has its eccentric “rabbit warren” layout of alcoves and hidden corners but features an upgraded kitchen, which will be run by chef patron Shay Cooper.
The most famous table, G3, is in a curtained-off alcove that became known as “the G-spot”. The restaurant hosted model Moss’s 17th birthday party and Tina Turner danced on a table that still bears her heel marks.
