During the pandemic, I made as many micro-donations to struggling restaurants as I did to theatres and galleries, the coffee eclairs at Maison Bertaux in Soho (est 1871) seeming to me to be almost as important culturally speaking as a season at the Donmar Warehouse.
But if I expected all this to end post-lockdown, it seems I was mistaken. My latest heartache is for Simpson’s Tavern in the City of London, whose landlord has served its proprietors with an eviction notice, rent arrears having built up in the months when it was closed due to Covid-19. A crowdfunder is now in place in the hope it can yet be rescued.
