Jeremy King knows more about the feel of rooms, perhaps, than any man in London. The co-creator (with Chris Corbin) and inspired reviver of restaurants that immediately became fabulous institutions – the Ivy, the Wolseley – King has honed a genius for hospitality over 45 years.
He can tell, he believes, when there is a full moon, because the noise in the dining room is a little more skittish. And, he suggests, he can sense without looking, as soon as he walks through the door, if there is a properly famous person dining in that corner (there usually is), or if there is a high-stakes business lunch over there, or if “a couple who really shouldn’t be having lunch together, are having lunch together”.
