Rioters stormed Decanter's Restaurant of the Year as violence spread across London on Monday night.
During an evening which saw the ‘worst violence in living memory’, according to senior police officers, two Michelin-starred restaurant The Ledbury, Notting Hill was attacked by ‘around 15-20 people’ at approximately 10.30pm.
The attackers smashed the front door and glassware, threatened diners and staff, and stole personal items. One diner, Louise Yang, described the experience on her blog Naked Sushi.
‘The looters were yelling at us to get down and throwing stuff all over the place. I got down and started taking off my wedding and engagement ring to hide somewhere, but unfortunately wasn’t fast enough. One looter came up and demanded my phone.’
‘The kitchen staff at the Ledbury went beyond their call of duty by rushing up from the kitchen with rolling pins, fry baskets, and other dangerous kitchen tools and scared off the looters,’ she added.
This morning, Jason Walker, assistant restaurant manager told Decanter.com, ‘It all happened very quickly and there was no harm to any of the customers. The kitchen staff came out and got quite vocal. Those burly kitchen boys did us a lot of favours.’
The restaurant will open for lunch but is still deciding if it will run a dinner service this evening, with further rioting a possibility.
The Ledbury declined to comment on the cost of the damage.
Written by Rebecca Gibb
