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Former clean eating advocate and vegetarian recipe writer, Ella Mills — who goes by the name Deliciously Ella — has announced two of her three London deli-restaurants, in Marylebone and Herne Hill, have closed. It is in part, she says, so that she can focus on the new, bigger venue which opened, also in Marylebone, on Weighhouse Street.
Mills, who has 1.2 million Instagram followers, is among the UK’s most high-profile food personalities — certainly a progenitor of the clean eating and wellness narrative that gripped the nation three years ago. Her first book, Deliciously Ella, was published in January 2015 and went on to be the fastest selling debut cookbook ever.
Though, as Jamie Oliver has recently learnt, being a best-selling author does not guarantee immunity from the turbulent forces affecting the hospitality business. To her Instagram audience, Mills announced:
“We’re going to be saying goodbye to our deli[s] at Seymour Place and Herne Hill. Seymour was Matt and my first venture together and we learnt more opening that site than we ever thought possible. It’s been a huge piece of our journey, and it’s filled with many great memories.
“It really feels like a million years ago that we sat downstairs the night before opening unpacking the final boxes and panicking if anyone would ever come. Somehow lots of you did, and we realised very quickly that we needed a larger space, which is what led us to Weighhouse Street, just 5 minutes down the road.”
She added that it didn’t make sense to have two competing businesses in such close proximity. “We’d be better off focusing all of our attention on one deli (Weighhouse Street) and making it the absolute best experience for all of you,” she wrote.
She added: “We’re really going to miss Seymour and Herne Hill and both will always have such a special place in the Deliciously Ella journey, but we’re excited for all of the things to come at Weighhouse Street, and look forward to seeing you there soon.”
Mills also has a range of energy balls, granolas, bircher muesli and oat bars, which are sold in shops and supermarkets throughout the UK. She said that there are “lots of exciting plans for new food ranges throughout this year.”