In the beginning it was Carrolls, The Nosh Bar and others centred on Great Newport Street in Soho serving piping hot lokshen soup, steaming salt beef on rye, tasty latkes and piquant new green cucumbers. Slowly, as in Manhattan, the London delis closed amid the rise of the burger and the pizza. Now, after a successful rescue campaign a few years ago, Gaby’s is disappearing for good (Deli loved by the stars to close after 50 years in London’s West End, 22 October). An era ends, but you can still get a good salt beef sandwich, an Irish one, at the Coach & Horses in Wellington Street, Covent Garden, a watering hole I’ve frequented for decades – a little bit of Dublin in our metropolis. Washed down with a pint of the best Guinness within miles, they’re every bit as good as the old days. Sláinte.
Graham Benson
Ventnor, Isle of Wight
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