Closure due to 'health and safety reasons' due to flooded kitchen

Charlotte's W5 picture: Liz Jenner

The lights have been off at Charlotte's W5 this week and as preparations get underway for the festive season - one of the busiest times for restaurants - there were fears for what had happened at Ealing's dining institution.

Picture: Liz Jenner

Concern has been growing after a local revealed a wedding dining booking had being cancelled at very short notice last week, and there have been reports of closures over the weekend. However, customers were told this was due to 'kitchen repairs'.

We spoke to the management team at Charlotte's W5 who informed us that there were indeed problems - there had been a flood which had affected the electrics in the kitchen and the closure was due to health and safety reasons whilst the issue was sorted.

Charlotte's W5 was the first bar/restaurant to open in the new Dickens Yard development in 2016, owner Alex Wrethman was offered the imposing site - a former stables - due to the success of his two other projects – Charlotte’s Place in Ealing Common, & Charlotte’s Bistro, Chiswick.

The longstanding Charlotte's Place was closed after a freak gas explosion and accident at Easter time 2018 in which the acting head chef was badly injured. The site was later put up for auction sale by the receiver and was sold for £814,000 in May. Charlotte's Place Ltd is in liquidation.

Charlotte's Bistro in Chiswick W4 which opened in 2013 has been shut for over a fortnight but notices on the door state the closure was due to a 'lack of gas' and it would be opening again 'tomorrow'. However it hasn't as yet reopened.

It was approved for a Corporate Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in March 2018 after a notice to strike off the company was posted in 2017. An updated CVA was made in June of this year.

A CVA is an insolvency procedure allowing a company with debt problems to reach a voluntary agreement with its business creditors regarding repayment of all, or part of its corporate debts over an agreed time period.

The manager we spoke to said it wasn't in his remit to discuss what was happening in the Chiswick branch.

Charlotte's W5 Ltd which has a registered address at the stable block has also been in a voluntary arrangement with creditors since 11 October according to Companies House.

We have been told once the current technical problems are rectified Charlotte's W5 should be open by the end of the week.

27 November 2019