There’s more than 100 years of hospitality experience shared between the family behind new west London pub The Latimer.
Restaurateur Jon Spiteri is an original partner in The French House Dining Room, St John and Sessions Arts Club, while Melanie Arnold co-founded beloved restaurant Rochelle Canteen. Their sons, Lorcan and Fin Spiteri, opened the now-closed barge restaurant Caravel together, and their daughter Molly Spiteri works in business development at Koya. Having grown up around restaurants, it’s unsurprising the kids followed suit. “They’ve worked pretty hard from when they were 14 or 15,” Arnold tells Broadsheet. “So it’s kind of in their nature.”
This is the first time the whole family has opened a venue together. “We wanted to have something with all of us,” Jon says. “We wanted Melanie involved but she always had another role at Rochelle. When she stopped that [last September], it made perfect sense.”
A pub felt like a natural choice. “We love restaurants, but the expectations are high,” Spiteri says. “In a pub, you have less expectations … [they’re] more community places. We loved the idea of a local pub.”
The setting may be relaxed, but the food feels elevated. The kitchen is led by Lorcan, cooking “pub dishes done in a beautiful way”, says Spiteri. In the dining room, there’s a European-leaning menu, with starters like cider-braised pork belly skewers with apple sauce, and confit trout with green beans and potato. Moving onto mains, standouts are the oxtail with mash and horseradish, and grilled sea bream paired with fennel, olives and anchovies. Specials will rotate, with Westholme Wagyu set to feature. For dessert: cold rhubarb, custard and amaretti crumble or chocolate mousse with blood orange. Soon, on Sundays, there’ll be a non-traditional roast (don’t expect Yorkshire puddings) with meat, fish and vegetarian options.
The bar menu stands on its own: a knockout chilli cheeseburger Lorcan compares to “a smash burger but with fried onions”; chips and pickles; and venison ragu on toast – all designed to be perfectly paired with a pint.
The drinks list, developed by Fin (who also runs front of house), is the same across the pub. A minus-18-degree Martini that can be poured in moments leads a fun cocktail list that includes a fino sherry highball, dry Daiquiri and tequila-based South of the Border. There are draft beers from Harbour, Allsops, Double Diamond, Bunta and more, and wines on tap. The “temperance” non-alcoholic section – which includes shrubs, sodas and “spirits” – nods to the history of the area, which was once on the border of a temperance zone (a designated area where the sale or possession or alcohol is illegal) .
Jon and Arnold were drawn to the site – a former Victorian pub on Latimer Road – which was most recently home to a “slightly wild” Greek restaurant, but had kept some of its original rustic features. “A lot of the design came around quite organically,” says Arnold. “Molly chose the wall paint colour and we ended up with three main colors: navy, which was already outside, dark brown and pearl green walls.”
Brown tiles lace the exterior and the back dining room is pared back with white tablecloths, while the front bar is more casual. There’s upholstered and recycled furniture, small round tables and stools; wooden floors and reclaimed cutlery. Personal touches include a woodland wildflower mural painted by old friend and artist Tanya Thompson. The stainless steel shaker pegs are designed by their friend’s son and his partner, who own LA-based studio Joshi/Green.
On a sunny day, light streams through the pub and calls for a long afternoon in the front terrace, where minimal planting comes from Arnold's garden.
“We wanted it to be very us, so it’s designed how we want it to be,” says Jon, laughing. “We didn’t argue at all.”
The Latimer
274 Latimer Road, W10 6QW
Hours:
Daily midday–11pm
