This includes the expansion of the ground-floor reception area to serve the offices on the upper floors.
By knocking through into Veeraswamy’s entrance area, the Crown Estate would have an extra 11 square metres for its reception room, according
Ranjit co-owner of MW Eat, said the news “came out of the blue”, claiming that the previous year the estate had asked if he wanted to take more space in the building. He turned this offer down, he said, as he was unsure if he could consistently fill the extra tables.
Speaking to The Times, Mr said: “I think they’ve come to the view that it’s too tiresome having a restaurant there, they want it to be all offices.”
Mr claims if the Crown Estate refuses to allow the restaurant to stay until it has found an alternative, then it would have to close down.
He claimed this could have major implications on the business and also cause potential redundancies which could effectively “destroy a major
Mr asked the estate if they could make an entrance for him elsewhere, but claims it said it would not be possible. An alternative site has not yet been found.
“They don’t care a bugger for history,” Mr added. “Had they wanted to, they could’ve easily …put the [office] reception on the first floor. If they’d have asked us to match the [office] rent, I would have.”
A spokeswoman for the Crown Estate said: “We need to carry out a comprehensive refurbishment of Victory House. This includes a major upgrade to the offices and improving the entrance to make it more accessible. Due to the limited options available in this listed building we need to remove the entrance to the restaurant, which means we will not be able to offer an extension when their lease expires.”
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