Village East to close for major revamp

Village East is set to close next month to undergo a major refurbishment of its kitchen and dining spaces.

The Bermondsey Street restaurant in London SE1 will close its doors on 15 July for the refit, which will see the layout and design of the interior towards a more versatile casual dining style. The new space will accommodate 32 in the dining room and 74 on the ground floor.

Adam White, co-founder of parent company Village London, which also owns the Garrison and Riding House Café, explained the reason behind the revamp: "Village East has been open for seven years and it's been very busy. Everything throughout the space has worn down at pretty much the same time.

"That combined with the fact that operationally, the layouts in the kitchen and the bars have needed some alterations in order to make them more productive and efficient.

"The site comprises two restaurant areas and two bar areas. The bar area at the entrance was always meant to be for casual dining and drinking and I think our design of that space was quite hard, cold and industrial so it lent itself more towards the drinking.

"I think people generally have an issue walking through a bar space where they are very merry at 1am on a Friday night to go to an area that they'll have lunch on a Tuesday afternoon, so we're re-gearing that ground floor entrance to be a much more convivial, warm, welcoming and soft space."

The menu will also undergo a redesign in time for the restaurants relaunch in September, featuring high end casual dining influenced by White's recent trips to the United States.

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