Mayfair restaurants hope to cash in on soaring West End rents

Signs are on that London property is nearing its peak when Mayfair’s most famous restaurants are looking to cash in on soaring rents in the city’s most expensive enclave.

This week the Financial Times reported that three restaurants – including two with two Michelin stars – are quietly looking to sell their leases. The Square, a two-Michelin star restaurant, has been sounding out buyers and looking at moving out of the area after 25 years.

Meanwhile, Hibiscus, another two-Michelin star restaurant, is also seeking buyers, while Princess Garden, a Chinese restaurant in the area since 1983, is reported to have marketed its lease for £2 million.

And it’s not just retail that is struggling – office rents reached an average £115sq ft last year in the West End, according to data from Knight Frank.

Estate agents Cushman & Wakefield are reporting strong business sourcing cheaper offices further afield.

The culinary rush to vacate the area may have been prompted by the arrival last year of two multimillion-pound destinations: Sexy Fish and Park Chinois, which prompted restaurant rents and premiums to soar.

Caprice Holdings is reported to have spent more than £15 million transforming an old NatWest Bank on Berkeley Square into Sexy Fish while Alan Yau spent "tens of millions" decorating Park Chinois. Other restaurants that have left the area include Brasserie Chavot and Pescatori, which closed last week after more than 40 years on Dover Street.