After this week's revelation that Margate tops the UK league for boarded up shops, could it be about to lose the one thing that's still worth going there for?A bit of background. Not having a Valentine to spend Valentine's Day with, I wasted this morning forlornly looking through the fluffy-buns and luvvy-lambs in this week's Isle of Thanet Gazunder in a desperate but ultimately vain attempt to spot my name. After those come the birthdays, then the deaths, and then we get to a section called 'Public Notices'.
And it was there that I saw this: 'Avada Restaurants Limited Company No. 05801294: Notice is hereby given pursuant to Section 98 of the Insolvency Act 1986 that a meeting of creditors of the above named company...' etc etc
You can read the full notice in the London Gazunder, where all such notices have to be published, by clicking here.
Now, who or what are Avada Restaurants? Well, the eagle eyed will remember the name from their credit card bills as none other than the Indian Princess, Margate's recently be-Michelined Indian eatery and for my money one of the best restaurants in this part of Kent. Avada Restaurants is also listed as the copyright holder at the bottom of their website here. Could it really be possible that they've gone into creditors' voluntary winding up (for this is, dear reader, the effect of Section 98 of the Insolvency Act 1986)?
I do hope this is all some ghastly mistake. Maybe it's just a holding company being wound up, and it won't affect the restaurant. I have enjoyed Vik and Dev's fine Indian fusion food and charming hospitality on many an occasion (even, in happier times, on Valentine's Day) since they set up shop in 2006. The Princess is nothing less than the jewel in Margate's crown, and as well as the Michelin mensh, Dev has just been made operations director at the Quex dining rooms. But on a more gloomy note he's been issuing dire warnings about slow business on his blog and Facebook sites recently. So much for the vaunted 'Turnip Effect'.
If the worst turns out to be true (maybe Dev can clarify it via Facebook or his blog) perhaps history will recall that the turning point was when it became known that Margate's top duffer, Sandy Beach, who has presided over the slow death of his town for seven long years now, had declared the Indian Princess to be his favourite restaurant!
Click here for Indian Princess website
Click here for Dev's blog
6 comments:
Oh well, they could always turn it into a pub.
Shame!!! Margate needs some success and this could be bad news. However lets hope that they can pick up the pieces and keep going.
I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. For a restaurant to survive outside a city, there must be a reliable local customer base. This was the case when the Princess first opened but it is now way beyond the wallet of most of us who live here. (apart from International stars like yourself of course)
The woodcock idea didn't go down well either.
Yes, thanks for copying that out from the last time you commented on the Indian Princess 12:47!
If you hadn't noticed, people aren't opening pubs. In fact 40 a week are closing up and down the country.
And for all you other philistines (Checksfield) the Indian Princess is not your average curry house. It's trying to do something a bit different, and is for the most part succeeding (foodwise at least). I agree that the portions have got smaller and the prices have gone up in the last year or two though.
A little bird told me the Rice Bowl is also closed indefinitely. Shame if true, as their Chinese grub was the best in Thanet.
Tried to book a table Friday night for Saturday and was told they were fully booked, so business can't be that bad.
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