Uncertainty Over Future of Hothouse Café
Premises closed and signage removed after licence debacle
The main sign for Hothouse Cafe has been removed and the premises are closed
March 19, 2024
Loyal customers of the Hothouse Café on Chiswick High Road fear it may have closed permanently after the premises were locked up and the signage removed.
When the changes were made initially over a week ago, there was some hope that they were indicative of a rebranding but when we visited earlier this Monday, the furniture appeared to have been removed.
The listing on Google states that the business is permanently closed.
Owner Samy Amer had predicted closure was likely when the premises were stripped of a licence to serve alcohol after it was found that illegal workers had been employed on the premises for a second time. The Home Office made representations to the council that the licence be taken away and councillors on the Licensing Panel agreed despite claims from Mr Amer that the music nights held at the venue were critical for its survival.
The café, which served Egyptian cuisine, had many regulars who wrote to the Panel urging leniency. One customer said after noticing the closure, “Samy probably did cut corners on paperwork but to characterise him as some sort of exploitative employer is a total falsehood. The people who worked there were his friends. The outcome looks like the loss of yet another quality independent local business and the shift of the High Road closer to a universal corporate blandness. Meanwhile no rates are being paid on a vacant unit.”
Some have expressed the hope that the business could reopen with the same offering but with a new licensee, but no application is currently pending with the borough licensing authorities.
We have contacted Mr Amer for comment.
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