St. John Is Closing Its Restaurant in Bermondsey

British restaurant institution, St. John, has announced that its restaurant on Maltby Street in Bermondsey will close.

The restaurant, one of four in the group, opened three years ago, as a “pop-up café,” to serve the adjacent St. John Bakery, which has long been positioned in Bermondsey, during busy market days (mainly on Saturdays.) “As demand increased so did our offering and our reputation, and we continued the temporary lease,” a spokesperson said today.

“However we knew that we would always be restricted in our ability to meet demand by the constraints of the building, the facilities and the restrictive license and so, as of 24 June, we are calling an end to the longstanding, evolving pop-up... so that we can concentrate our still-small team on these exciting areas of growth.”

An announcement also points to the “busy kitchen” at the neighbouring Bridge Theatre which it says is “exceeding expectations.” St. John will also open two new permanent bakery sites, which are “currently under negotiation” but are due to open this summer.

The spokesperson added that the bakery “has continued to go from strength to strength in the seven years since it was opened in Bermondsey’s Druid Street, distributing our famous sourdough, doughnuts and more to restaurants, cafes and retail across London.” A pop-up bakery opened in Old Street Station earlier this year.

Maltby Street’s head chef Alex Szrok (formerly of Hill and Szrok) and manager Rebecca McGauley-Dyke, will be continue to work for the company, at the original St. John in Smithfield. Szrok will also continue in his role as chef consultant at the Bridge Theatre.