A fixture of Regent Street since 1926, Veeraswamy has found itself in a dispute with the King’s property company, The Crown Estate, over the renewal of its Regent Street lease. Ranjit Mathrani and Namita Panjabi, co-owners of MW Eat (which owns Veeraswamy), have applied to the courts directly to extend the lease. It will be June 2026 before the courts decide on the matter; in the meantime, the pair are petitioning King Charles directly via Change.org.
MW Eat, which also runs Masala Zone restaurants in Soho, Covent Garden, and Piccadilly Circus, was informed of the decision last summer. Mathrani told The Times that news ‘came out of the blue’ as just one year prior, the King’s property company had offered the 99-year-old restaurant more space in the building, which he refused, uncertain whether he could consistently fill the extra tables.
Just a stone’s throw from Piccadilly Circus, Veeraswamy has fed countless big names, including Princess Anne, Winston Churchill, King Abdullah of Jordan, Lord Cameron, and Marlon Brando, among many others. Now, the restaurant, which earned a Michelin star in 2016, could be forced to close and perhaps relocate if the case doesn't succeed.
The Crown Estate intends to reclaim the ground floor reception area for the upper floor offices of Victory House, which have sat empty since late 2023 following a flood in the basement. Veeraswamy, meanwhile, which is fed by a separate power supply, continued trading, but The Crown Estate now claims it needs the dining room back to undertake a 12-month renovation of the entire building and extend the office entrance into 11 square metres of Veeraswamy space. This will leave the dining room without an entrance, and so the restaurant space is to be converted into new offices.
‘They don’t care a bugger for history,' Mathrani remarked. 'Had they wanted to, they could’ve easily… put the [office] reception on the first floor. If they’d have asked us to match the [office] rent, I would have.’
The Crown Estate stated it wouldn’t be possible to make a separate entrance, and failed to find a suitable lease nearby. Mathrani has since called this argument 'flimsy', stating that 'there are alternative reception areas and the work can be carried out elsewhere in the building whilst we are operating, as happened frequently.'
In a statement provided to Restaurant Online, a spokesperson from The Crown Estate said: ‘We appreciate this is upsetting for Veeraswamy and have offered to help find new premises elsewhere on our portfolio having explored other options to accommodate their needs. Veeraswamy has been a valued part of Regent Street for many years. We thank them and their customers for their contributions to the West End.’
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