Restaurants count cost of Dean Street blaze

Two of Soho’s longest running restaurants – Quo Vadis and Signor Zilli – have reported a severe loss in trade at a traditionally busy time of year after a major fire broke out in their street.

More than 100 firefighters were called out to Dean Street last Friday (July 10) to tackle the blaze after it broke out in a five-storey building just before 2pm.

Lunchtime diners were forced to evacuate the restaurants, leaving bills unpaid and both restaurants were closed for the rest of Friday and Saturday.

Quo Vadis, owned by brothers Sam and Eddie Hart, has remained closed while work is carried out to repair smoke damage and will not re-open until July 27. The pair estimate the fire has lost the business two weeks worth of trade.

“We are the business which has been most affected on the street apart from the business which caught on fire and their neighbours who have suffered badly,”  Eddie told BigHospitality.

“It will take two weeks for all the carbon residue left by the smoke to be removed from all the surfaces.”

Although Signor Zilli reopened on the Monday following the fire, Zilli said trade there had been badly affected because part of the street was closed to allow repair works to the fire-struck building to be carried out. The chef and restaurateur estimated that the incident had cost the business £50k.

He said: “We might as well be closed, it’s been really dead around here. This is our busiest season so if we don’t make money now when are we going to do it?”

Hart said the incident had brought businesses closer together however: "Soho always has a very familial and village feel to it but in disaster comes a further comradeship. The Groucho are taking in our club members, we theirs in August and Fino any diners," he said.