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| Belgo | |
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1992 |
| Closed | 2020 |
| Owner(s) | Casual Dining Group |
| Food type | Belgian |
| Street address | 1 King's Cross Road |
| City | London |
| State | UK |
| Postal/ZIP Code | WC1X 9HX |
| Website | www |
Belgo was a chain of London restaurants specializing in simpleBelgian cooking andBelgian beer. There were five Belgo restaurants:Belgo Centraal (Covent Garden),Belgo Holborn,Belgo Kings Cross,Belgo Nottingham andBelgo Bromley;[1] following closures announced in July 2020.
The chain was noted for its 1990s design andarchitecture, including kitchens viewable by customers entering the Centraal restaurant, andwaiters and waitresses who dressed asmonks.[citation needed]
Belgo was founded in 1992 by French-Canadian Denis Blais and Anglo-Belgian Andre Plisnier.[2] For a time, the brand was expanded to a chain of bar-diners known asBierodrome inClapham,Kingsway, andIslington, and at Belgo Zuid inLadbroke Grove – all now closed) but it later reverted to the Belgo format.
Belgo was bought in 1998 by ex-stock market trader, newspaper columnist and ex-Chairman of Channel 4Luke Johnson—known for his financial stewardship, with colleagueHugh Osmond, of thePizza Express chain of pizza restaurants in the 1990s. However, attempts to organically extend the Belgo franchise beyond London in the late 1990s were unsuccessful: the franchise inJersey lasted barely 12 months before closing in 2000. The Belgo flotation was used as a vehicle to acquire a number of celebrated chic London restaurants, such as The Ivy, The Caprice, Daphne's The Collection and J. Sheekey, creating the 'Signature Restaurants' brand division, and a business with a market capital that peaked at more than £90,000,000.
Johnson sold his interest in Belgo in 2005 to Tragus Group, nowCasual Dining Group, which also owns the French-styledCafé Rouge chain and theBella Italia chain of Italian restaurants.
In July 2020 on the back of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Casual Dining Group went intoadministration and it announced that Belgo would permanently close three of its four sites.[3]
In 2013, Belgo was an official partner ofComic Relief, the British charity founded in 1985 that aims to "bring about positive and lasting change in the lives of poor and disadvantaged people".[citation needed]