In May, the West End’s food community came together across Regent Street and St James’s to provide a series of workshops, masterclasses and dining experiences as part of the Crown Estate’s Future of Food Festival. Some of the area’s most innovative chefs, restaurants, producers and venues joined forces to welcome the public and celebrate the creativity and ambition shaping London’s food and drink scene.
By drawing in around 84 per cent more visitors than on an average weekend day, the festival was a reminder that in today’s challenging hospitality market restaurants succeed not in isolation but as part of a wider ecosystem. It created a shared platform for hospitality businesses to collaborate, helping them all to reach new audiences, attract additional visitors and gain from the collective pull of the West End.
A good restaurant will always need the fundamentals: great food, an innovative menu, a memorable atmosphere and the right team to deliver it. But when people choose where to eat or drink, they are often choosing a destination as much as a venue. Visitors are drawn by familiarity, convenience and the promise that there will be more to enjoy before and after their meal. That is why hospitality works best as part of a broader mix. A single restaurant can bring in customers, but a complementary group of restaurants, pubs, cafés and bars creates something more compelling.
In the West End, this curated approach is proving to be a recipe for success. Heddon Street is a great example. Just off Regent Street, this small but perfectly formed u-shaped side street brings together a vibrant mix of chef-led restaurants, pubs and bars. Each is helped by being part of the whole: established names benefit from proximity to neighbours with fresh ideas, while newer restaurants gain visibility from being in a recognised location. Take the rise of Fallow as an example: once a pop-up on Heddon Street, now a celebrated staple fixture in St James’s Market with a new sister restaurant in Canary Wharf.
Heddon Street exemplifies how hospitality acts as the glue of destinations, supporting the evening economy and adding different experiences for the huge variety of visitors to the West End. Regent Street’s retail offer draws shoppers in and Heddon Street gives them reasons to stay, return and experience the area in different ways.
These destinations do not come together by accident. Heddon Street’s success reflects years of careful curation and long-term stewardship. While individual restaurants understandably focus on their own businesses, our responsibility as the Crown Estate is to shape places that work as a collective, where businesses complement one another and and give people reasons to visit time and again.
This role extends beyond just choosing the right restaurant. Creating thriving hospitality destinations means understanding how different uses interact, how visitors and users move through a place and how businesses can strengthen each other. It means considering the right balance of restaurants, shops, offices, cultural venues, public spaces and hospitality venues to give places the energy they need to succeed, while also benefitting and respecting local residents.
This philosophy is central to how the Crown Estate approaches our London portfolio. Across Regent Street and St James’s, we see hospitality not as a standalone sector but as an essential ingredient in the success of the wider destination. Food and drink help bring people together, support the experience of workers and visitors, extend dwell time and contribute to the character that makes places memorable.
That approach is becoming increasingly important as hospitality operators face changing consumer behaviours, rising costs and heightened expectations. In this environment, landlords can and should act as value-added partners, helping to create the conditions in which businesses are more visible, better connected and more resilient. The right restaurants in the right places, supported by the right neighbours and a shared sense of purpose, do much more than serve meals. They help the evolution of the successful city districts London needs to thrive.
Hannah Milne is the Crown Estate’s managing director, real estate. Top photo from Crown Estate.
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