Crowdfund to save London's Pidgin restaurant hits £60,000 target

A crowdfund set up to help London restaurant Pidgin survive into 2021 has surpassed its £60,000 target.

At the time of writing the GoFundMe page has raised just over £63,000 from 398 donors.

Pidgin founders James Ramsden and Sam Herlihy appealed for help last week after claiming they were unable to access some of the government support loans.

The pair opened Pidgin in Hackney in 2015, serving a weekly-changing menu with the goal of never repeating a dish. The restaurant has been closed since 16 December due to coronavirus restrictions in London.

In a video on the GoFundMe page, Ramsden said: "We're now coming up to our 1,000th dish and amidst this coronavirus hell we've struggled to access some of the loans available through the government, so have decided the way to get through this winter is to ask you to give us a bit of a leg up."

The crowdfund is still running, with rewards including private wine tastings and a special dinner cooked by Herlihy and Ramsden.

The pair also run sandwich shop Sons and Daughters at London's Coal Drops Yard and ran Mayfair restaurant Magpie from 2017-2019.

To view the GoFundMe click here.