Tom Brown’s Pearly Queen restaurant closes with plans to relocate

Chef Tom Brown has closed his Pearly Queen oyster bar and restaurant in London’s Shoreditch with a view to reopening it in another location.

Pearly Queen launched in November 2023, serving a menu of oysters, shellfish and "sea-cuterie", and won a glowing review from The Guardian’s Grace Dent, who praised its “two Michelin star-level ingenuity".

Brown confirmed to The Caterer he has now closed the site and may look to relaunch it elsewhere.

The restaurant was previously recommended in the Michelin Guide Great Britain and Ireland, but it has since been removed following reports of its closure.

Pearly Queen’s Instagram account remains live but its final post was in July this year. It is also mentioned on Brown’s personal Instagram biography.

Upon The Caterer’s visit to the site yesterday (13 October), the double wooden framed glass doors were covered in protective plastic from the inside and the menu at the entrance had been removed.

Brown, who trained under Nathan Outlaw, ran Michelin-starred Hackney restaurant Cornerstone for six years until its closure in 2024, which he partly blamed on the high costs of running a tasting menu concept.

This summer he launched a flagship restaurant, Tom Brown at the Capital, at London’s Capital hotel and surf and turf-inspired restaurant Island with chef Brad Carter in King’s Cross.