Jason Atherton’s Sosharu Site Is Up For Sale

The site occupied by Sosharu — chef-restaurateur Jason Atherton’s Japanese izakaya-style restaurant in Clerkenwell — is for sale. The site has been listed by property consultancy Dean Gambles with an undisclosed premium. Annual rent for the site is listed at £175,000.

In a call with Eater London this morning Atherton confirmed that the site was up for sale, but insisted “that it’s not closing but moving.” Asked why, he said: “There’s not enough lunch trade in the area. [Being busy on] Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday is not enough to keep a site going with high rents in central London.”

While Atherton insisted that Sosharu was a “fantastic concept that works” — one that “people loved,” which received “great reviews” and that he was “proud to have created with head chef Alex Craciun,” he is intent on making it work better, more centrally, not just in the evening. “We’re looking at a site in Mayfair and three or four sites in Soho where there is more of a lunch trade,” Atherton said this morning.

The chef-restaurateur who now operates 17 restaurants globally under the parent brand, The Social Company, told Eater London that he has agreed a deal for the Sosharu brand in Shanghai (where he currently runs the restaurant Social Commune) and is on the verge of an agreement for the same brand in Dubai (where he runs Marina Social.)

Sosharu, situated at 64 Turnmill Street, opened in March 2016. Eater London understands that the restaurant will remain open until the operators find a buyer for the site.