Gunpowder founder announces closure of Gul & Sepoy and Madame D restaurants

Harnett Baweja has announced the closure of Gul & Sepoy and Madame D ahead of the opening of his second Gunpowder restaurant in September.

Gul & Sepoy has closed today, while Madame D will shut its doors next Monday. Baweja has said the restaurants, both in Commercial Street, east London, will remain closed until a final decision is made on their future.

The second Gunpowder restaurant, in One Tower Bridge, will be followed by Custard bakery on the ground floor in October.

The restaurateur said: "Unfortunately, our new site at One Tower Bridge has suffered delays. In a way, this has been a blessing, giving us more time to develop and perfect our new bakery concept, but it's also given me time to reflect on the existing restaurants and what we want to do in the future.

"In retrospect, we opened Gul & Sepoy and Madame D in quick succession last year and it stretched our already small team to the limit. Closing the restaurant has been a necessary move in the current financial climate with increasing staffing and other costs.

"While I am very sad to let the restaurants go, it will allow us to refocus on Gunpowder and making the second restaurant bigger and better. We hope to keep the staff on at One Tower Bridge."

Harneet and Devina's first venture was the original Gunpowder in Shoreditch, a home-food style Indian kitchen which launched in November 2015.

Madame D's opened in April 2017 with Gul & Sepoy opening in September of the same year.

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