London restaurant prices jump 11%

Published: 18 August, 2011

London restaurant prices have jumped a record 11% in the past year, while the number of new openings has dropped to its lowest level in 11 years, according to Harden's restaurant guides.

The cost of an average dinner for two in the capital now exceeds £90 for the first time, one person can expect to pay £45.01 for a three-course meal at the 1,800 restaurants listed in the 'Harden's London Restaurants 2012', to be published on September 1.

Co-editor Peter Harden said: "In the 21 years we have followed the restaurant scene, we've never before seen annual inflation anywhere near 10%. This year, however, has seen a 'perfect storm' - food prices trending sharply upward worldwide, plus the one-off effect of the January VAT increase.

"If there is any comfort at all to be found for restaurant-goers, it is that you have to see this gigantic rise in the context of a modest increase the previous year. Stripping out VAT effects, underlying prices have - over the past two years taken together - increased by 'only' 4.5% per annum."

What's more, the number of openings in the past year (107) is the lowest since 2000 (102). Last year 140 new restaurants opened - the third highest ever.

Co-editor Richard Harden said the focus should be on quality, not quantity. "It is sometimes said that hard times make good art, and it seems to be the same with restaurants. The way quality is - at last! - flourishing in the London restaurant scene really is impressive.

"For far too long, we've seen the capital's restaurant scene seemingly dominated by big media-friendly names - 'Conran' in the late-'90s, then 'Ramsay' in the noughties - but now we seem to be entering a much more mature era where what counts is quality, sometimes twinned with innovation, not media profile."

"Each year Peter and I select what seem to us personally to be the ten most significant openings of the previous 12 months. This year, our selection (set out below) is - arguably for the first time ever - composed almost exclusively of restaurants of note not for scale or fashionable appeal, but simply by virtue of the quality of their cooking. To this extent, we may perhaps say that the London restaurant scene has finally 'grown up'".

When it comes to closures, the current economic climate has not played a marked role: this year's figure (72) is in the lower half of the range - 64 to 87 - that's prevailed every year since 2005.

Richard and Peter Harden's top ten notable openings of the year: