Breakfast Club Canary Wharf closes after 10 years

The Breakfast Club has closed its Canary Wharf restaurant and bar after 10 years of trading.

Co-founder Jonathan Arana-Morton wrote on LinkedIn that the site’s lease had come to an end and the group was moving out.

He described the 5,500 sq ft location as “the greatest work lesson I’ll ever take”.

“We did bloody everything. I think we can all agree, we did too much," he said.

The three-storey site featured the group’s typical daytime café, a ‘Breakfast Pub’ bar, takeaway coffee area and a giant overhead disco ball.

Arana-Morton said: “Off the back of hugely successful bars in Spitalfields and London Bridge, big live music nights in Hoxton and queues at the Breakfast Club, ego got the better of me and we broke our own rule #1 at the Breakfast Club - never getting too big for our boots. 5,500 sq ft on three floors is too big for our boots (it was a busy restaurant in too big a building). A three-concept location is too big for our boots. A gold disco ball the size of a mini is too big for our boots (but what a disco ball!)

“Anyway. I think it will be the greatest work lesson I’ll ever take. An expensive lesson but a lesson well learned. I had a lot to learn back in 2014, I still do. You can never take this industry for granted.

“I spoke with a couple of founders at a restaurant conference late last year about this lesson, they had a glint in their eye, they looked like me in 2014. I could see they were listening, but maybe not hearing me. Keep things simple, stick with what made your business a success in the first place and don’t get too big for your boots!”

The Breakfast Club opened its smallest café yet in London’s Seven Dials last year, which Arana-Morton said had been “our best opening in 12 years and maybe, possibly, ever”.

Breakfast Club’s first site opened on D’Arblay Street in London’s Soho in 2005. It has since expanded to 14 restaurants in London, Brighton, Oxford and Chelmsford, three of which have separate bar areas.

The group’s first franchise site with SSP Group launched at London Gatwick Airport last year.

In its latest financial results, Breakfast Club saw a rise in turnover and said it remained focus on expansion.