Iconic London vegetarian restaurant Food for Thought set to close

Iconic Covent Garden vegetarian restaurant Food for Thought is set to close after 40 years in business.

The restaurant, which runs as a co-operative, said it was being driven out due to spiralling rent prices in the area.

A statement on its website said: "Suffice it to say that we have had enough. We have enjoyed cooking beans but there is no fun when the entire focus is on counting them. To continue in Neal Street would require compromising the principles on which it has been run."

The statement said that the restaurants longevity, despite being an "awkward, cramped and unconventional set-up", was down to the commitment of its staff and loyalty of customers.

It added: "For more than 40 years, Food for Thought has withstood the corporate march, refusing to be processed, packaged or pocketed. For as long as was viable we have remained resolutely independent, offering food that is unashamedly home-spun and hand-made and providing a place to work that is a celebration of the individual and the spontaneous. We have no appetite for any other Food for Thought."

It will serve its last vegetarian moussaka, Jamaican black eyed bean hot pot and enchiladas on 21 June 2015.