Spear’s Review

Famed restaurateur Jeremy King may have lost control of the Wolseley, but he returned to reclaim his crown with the opening of a brace of restaurants in 2024: The Park, a 21st-century take on one of his signature ‘grand cafés’ within Fenton Whelan’s Park Modern, and Arlington (better known as Le Caprice 2.0).

In 2026 he will finally throw open the doors to a new incarnation of the historic Simpson’s in the Strand. He originally tried to secure the lease in 2000, then had another go in 2008 and once more in 2015. He was finally successful in 2023, but the renovation of the historic building has progressed more slowly than originally planned. 

The openings are just the latest chapter in a glittering career. Together with business partner Chris Corbin, King bought the fading Le Caprice in 1981 and transformed it into a London landmark. This same golden touch was later brought to the Ivy and J. Sheekey. In 2005, the Ivy and Caprice Holdings were bought by fellow Power Lister Richard Caring.

A downfall of sorts came in 2022 when a long-running boardroom saga culminated in King being messily – and publicly – ousted from Corbin & King, the company he co-founded in 2003 with Corbin. Thai hotel conglomerate Minor International, which had amassed a 74 per cent stake in the group behind the Wolseley, the Delaunay, Brasserie Zédel and others, forced the company into administration. A battle for the entire business ensued. King and his supporters were eventually outbid, and Minor took control. 

Now, however, the King-dom is being re-established. But the man at the centre of the empire is careful never to buy into his own hype. ‘The moment I become complacent, I’m in trouble,’ he told Spear’s. 

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