ELEPHANT AND CASTLE CLOSES Last call for downtown stalwart
Randy Richmond
Sun Media
January 3, 2009
One of London's longest-lasting restaurants and an anchor in its downtown mall has closed.
A passerby stops to read a closed notice on the door of the Elephant and Castle restaurant in Galleria London. A new British-style pub will open in the space in about five months, a mall official said. The Elephant and Castle just celebrated its 25th year in business.(SUSAN BRADNAM/Sun Media)
The Elephant and Castle opened in Galleria London in 1983, the same year the metric system and pay television were introduced in Canada.
Yesterday, a banner marking the pub's 25th anniversary celebration hung outside darkened doors and a sign announcing the place is "permanently closed" as of Jan. 1.
The site will become a Fox and Fiddle pub in about five months, said Lucas Blois, general manager of Arcturus Realty Corp., which manages Galleria.
The closing of the pub was a mutual decision with the franchise owners, after the mall management decided the restaurant needed extensive updating, Blois said.
"That Elephant and Castle is the same as it was 25 years ago. It is very important in the restaurant industry to update yourself," Blois said.
"The space itself needs to be renovated significantly. You are talking large amounts of dollars. There was an unwillingness by Elephant and Castle to spend that money."
The owners of the London franchise of Elephant and Castle could not be reached for comment. Its lease ran out at the end of December.
Mall employees paraded by the darkened doors yesterday to read the brief announcement on the door.
"I'm shocked. It's so sad. They've been here 25 years," said one employee, who asked her name not be used. "I didn't know they were closing it."
Fox and Fiddle president Terry Tsianos said the new restaurant will have a "modern English pub" look.
Gone will be the low ceilings, small rooms and darkened interior, he said. "We want to change all of that."
Fox and Fiddle opened its first pub in 1989 and has 19 locations in Southwestern Ontario and British Columbia.
"We focus on food and food quality," Tsianos said. "We're really looking forward to opening. London is a great market."
Blois said he wasn't sure how many people Elephant and Castle had on staff, but said Fox and Fiddle would hire locally.
Galleria London considered several replacements for the Elephant and Castle spot, he said.
Fox and Fiddle's expanding operation across Canada played a factor, Blois said.
"I think it is important to have a name," he said.
"I know, myself, if I go out for dinner, when I am in a different town, if I recognize the name, I'll go out for dinner there."
Galleria's other large restaurant and tavern, Rockwater's, shut down in April.
The mall, undergoing renovations, needs only one large restaurant, Blois said.
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E-MAIL: Randy Richmond