The news arrived via an email from Jeremy King at 3.57am. Asked whether the auction of Corbin & King, the London restaurant group he had launched almost two decades ago with Chris Corbin, had taken place, he replied: “It did – and we lost – outbid.”
Those six words brought down the curtain on one of the great partnerships. Not King and Corbin — the latter had for some time had only a limited involvement in the business — but King and The Wolseley.
From the day it opened its doors in November 2003 in a former car showroom on Piccadilly, the all-day brasserie, designed in the grand European style, became a favourite of a veritable Who’s Who of guests, from Dame Joan Collins — a huge fan of the soufflé Suisse — to Sir David Frost, Bill Nighy and Keira Knightley.
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