Creeping mediocrity

Lisa Hilton laments a dismal lunch at a chain restaurant woefully short of theatreland glamour

DON’T GET YOUR HOPES UP, this is the one in St Albans. In its heyday, the original Ivy on the edge of Covent Garden was the epitome of old-school West End glamour, but since acquiring the site in 2005, the restaurant world’s Dr Evil, Richard Caring, has merched out a further 30 establishments, scattering a bit of theatreland fairy glitter over the kind of small towns Binkie Beaumont spent his life trying to forget about. There must be some kind of folk memory involved in the Ivy chain’s success, a residual thrill of grease-painted razzle which obtains amongst punters who couldn’t give a stuff about the original Ivy legend. What Noel whispered to Larry, or to Kenneth Tynan, Liz Hurley snuggling up to Christopher Biggins on those storied banquettes in the glory…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2022

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