Hawksmoor Group to shut Foxlow Stoke Newington
The restaurant, which opened on Stoke Newington Church Street in April 2015, will close its doors for good on 14 January.
Co-founders Will Beckett and Huw Gott said they were closing the restaurant 'with integrity', paying all suppliers and 'looking after' staff with the intention of finding them jobs at other sites. They said they would also be holding a party for regulars and would invite them to the soft launch of its next Foxlow.
Beckett said: “We tried something and unfortunately, despite great feedback for the food and service, it didn’t work. As Gary Thomas, the Foxlow restaurant director, has reminded me, these things aren’t unusual in business, even if they are very painful.
"We’re not making any excuses about the wider trading environment or anything else - we made a couple of poor decisions and just didn’t get everything as right here as we thankfully have at all our other restaurants. We look forward to letting people have more positive news very soon.”
Although not cited as a reason for closure, the restaurant was awarded a 0 food hygiene rating following an inspection on behalf of the Food Standards Agency in November. The food safety inspector said 'major improvements' were needed in the areas of hygienic food handling and management of food safety.
Foxlow's other three restaurants - in Clerkenwell, Chiswick and Balham - continue to trade successfully, a company spokesperson said and there are plans to expand the concept to other areas in the future, although no locations have yet been revealed.