In this week’s diary, The Capitalist raises a toast Simpson’s, think tankers and Heathrow boss Thomas Woldbye’s new phone
SIMPSON’S RETURNS TO SQUARE MILE
It may have been a cloudy day in the Square Mile yesterday, but there was one piece of news putting a pep in the step of City carnivores: after two years of locked doors, Simpson’s Tavern is reopening.
Famed for its stewed cheese and sausages on the side, the closure of the City institution over a rent dispute in 2022 caused local outrage – with many fretting the closure put the long lunch under existential threat. Two years of small plates later, those fears can now be put to bed, with the historic venue due to reopen as a chophouse next year under the custodianship of Cloth restaurateurs Joe Haynes, Ben Butterworth and Tom Hurst, who have promised to keep “the old Simpson’s spirit” with chops, steaks and wood-panelled walls. One thing they can’t keep, however, is the name, which, due to legal complications, will be changed to Cloth Cornhill.
Philip Palumbo, managing director of The Walbrook and president of the Simpson’s Tavern Preservation Society, a campaign group launched to save the venue in 2022, told City AM he was “buoyed” by the news, hailing the reopening of Simpson’s as a needed antidote to London’s homogenisation “beneath the grim Soho House effect”, which he said had resulted in a scourge of “tuna tartares and Russian tarts” across the city. Palumbo described his tie to the venue as “spiritual”, though conceded his lactose intolerance prevented him from being able to personally endorse any return of stewed cheese.
It is not yet known whether stewed cheese will appear on the new menu but the restaurant confirmed there will be sausages, though not in the Simpson’s “sausage on the side” form. Fellow Simpson’s spiritualist Nigel Farage, however, told City AM this was a “small price to pay” and that he was delighted to see his “regular haunt” reopen.
CLINK TANK
Described as the social affairs event of the year, the inaugural Smart Thinking think-tank awards took place last night, hosted by former Downing St adviser turned podcaster, Jimmy McLoughlin. With categories including “Report Title of the Year” and “Best Convener” you would be forgiven for thinking it was a dry affair, but McLoughlin had the assembled wonks chuckling by suggesting that Angela Rayner could end up running the Institute for Housing while Wes Streeting is well placed to launch a leadership institute, if not a leadership bid.
RING RINNNNNNGGGGG
Most of the concerns about an increase in capacity at Heathrow relate to noise, but there’s one part of the operation where the mantra is now “the louder, the better”. We’re talking about airport boss Thomas Woldbye, who famously slept through the emergency at Heathrow in March when the hub shut down after a fire at a nearby substation – after falling asleep with his phone on silent. Woldbye told an audience earlier this week that he has bought himself an “extra-loud phone”, adding – cryptically – “and more”. The Capitalist can only guess at the bedroom upgrades.
FELICITATIONS
One person who is running though: our chief reporter – though in the more traditional sense. City AM’s Ali Lyon followed his surname to France this week, where he ran the Marathon des Alpes Maritimes from Nice to Cannes in an impressive 3h47 in aid of Ace Africa (donate here!). While the reporter admitted trotting along the French riviera wasn’t the hardest thing to endure in the world, he hoped months of having to swap his usual commute for jogging was worthy of some sympathy.
STARMER-DRAMA
Keir Starmer suffered a pretty bruising outing at PMQs, forced to defend his health secretary and his chief of staff following a chaotic 24 hours of briefings, leadership speculation and political drama. The Capitalist would like to raise a glass to Tory MP Lincoln Jopp, who offered the PM advice based on his own experience of surviving “a bloody and violent coup” in Africa. He also spoke for the country by asking the PM to never again travel abroad on a Wednesday and so inflicting his deputy, the hapless David Lammy, on a weary nation.