Angus Steakhouse is a

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate many retail markets, dining markets, and service categories in many pa ...

of steak houses in

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...

. In 2001, there were about 30 outlets; 5 remain open as of July 2020. The name reflects

Aberdeen Angus The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scotland, Scottish List of cattle breeds, breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the Scottish counties, counties of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeen, Banffshire, Banff, ...

, a Scottish breed of beef cattle. Some restaurants still retain the former trading name, "Aberdeen Steak Houses", on their signage, as of September 2016.

History

Aberdeen Steak Houses was started in the early 1960s by Reginald Eastwood (born c. 1913), who had started in business aged 15 as an apprentice

butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

. Eastwood's vision was for a more modern version of the earlier chop-house grills, and was influenced by American steak houses. The décor was opulent, with

plate glass Plate glass, flat glass or sheet glass is a type of glass, initially produced in plane form, commonly used for windows, glass doors, transparent walls, and windscreens. For modern architectural and automotive applications, the flat glass is ...

windows and red

velour Velour, occasionally velours, is a plush, knits, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet or velveteen. It can be made from polyester, spandex, cotton, or a cotton-polyester blend. Velour is used in a wide variety of applications, including ...

banquette A banquette (), rampart walk or parapet walk is a small footpath or elevated step along the inside of a rampart or parapet of a fortification. Musketeers atop it were able to view the counterscarp, or fire on enemies in the moat. Typical they ...

s. Menus included trendy dishes like

prawn cocktail Prawn cocktail, also known as shrimp cocktail, is a seafood dish consisting of shelled, cooked prawns in a Marie Rose sauce or cocktail sauce, served in a glass. It was the most popular hors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United S ...

and

Black Forest gateau Black Forest gateau, ( , ) or Black Forest cake, is a layer cake made out of cocoa powder, Sour Cherry, cherries, ''Kirsch'', and whipped cream, with dark chocolate as a decoration. The origins of the cake and its name are disputed. However, th ...

. ''

The Good Food Guide ''The Good Food Guide'' is a guide to the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain. It was first published in 1951. In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased ''The Good Food Guide'' for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The ''G ...

'' of the 1960s listed the restaurants. Eastwood and partner Thomas Beale floated the company on 6 February 1964.''Time & tide business world'', vol.45, p.xcv In 1965, the Kaye brothers' Golden Egg cafeterias bought a 76% stake in the 14 Angus restaurants. In 1973 EMI Hotels won a bidding war against

Ralston Purina Ralston Purina Company was a St. Louis, Missouri,–based American conglomerate with substantial holdings in animal feed, food, pet food, consumer products, and entertainment. On December 12, 2001, it merged with Swiss food-giant Nestlé's ...

to buy the Golden Egg group from the Kayes. By the 1970s, the group was focused more on tourist trade, with many branches in the West End to attract those attending theatre or musical shows. Angus Steakhouses was a subsidiary of Aberdeen Steak Houses with the same business model.Lauren Mills
Aberdeen Steak Houses faces chop
''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 September 2002 In the mid-1970s, the firm had an industrial dispute with the

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland—where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU)—with 900,000 members (a ...

. In 1980 EMI sold 13 restaurants to

Thistle Hotels Thistle Hotels, a subsidiary of the Clermont Hotel Group, is a UK-based hotel company with a portfolio of 8 Central London hotels, one at London Heathrow and one in nerby Bedfordshire, operating in the Star (classification), three and four star ...

. In 1984, the group was sold to Ali Salih, a Turkish businessman with a low public profile. The menu and décor showed little update since the 1960s, and the brand got a reputation as

tourist trap A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souvenirs, and other product ...

s for foreigners.Adam Edwards
Who goes there?
''Daily Telegraph'', 19 May 2001 Business remained strong through the 1980s and at its peak it had an annual turnover of £20m with 700,000 steaks sold. Its 1989 profit was £330,000.Husnara Begum
BLP to rescue steak house from collapse
''The Lawyer'', 7 October 2002 Its business, along with the wider UK beef industry, was hit in the 1990s by

bovine spongiform encephalopathy Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and always fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of th ...

, then by foot and mouth disease in 2001. It made a loss of £3m in 2000. In April 2001, Salih sold the sites of several branches for £4m. The decline in American tourists after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

was also cited by Salih after the group went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

in October 2002, with £7m in debt. At the time, it had 16 "Angus Steak House" outlets, six "Aberdeen Steak House", three "Pizza Pasta", two "Maxine's Brasserie", and one each of "American Burger", "American Café Bistro", and "Highland Steak House". Administrators BDO and lawyers Berwin Leighton Paisner kept the firm trading as a

going concern A going concern is an accounting term for a business that is assumed will meet its financial obligations when they become due. It functions without the threat of liquidation for the foreseeable future, which is usually regarded as at least the n ...

, though several of the sites were sold off to pay debts. In 2003, the remaining 21 outlets were bought by Noble Organisation, run by Michael and Philip Noble, whose core business was

amusement arcade An amusement arcade, also known as a video arcade, amusements, arcade, or penny arcade (an older term), is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, mercha ...

s. In 2008, Noble told ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' they were "upgrading and refurbishing the restaurants".Sathnam Sangher
Musings on a steakhouse that is not well done
"Business Life", ''The Times'' 24 May 2008

Reputation

In 2011, actor and comedian David Mitchell championed the cause of Aberdeen Angus Steak Houses in his opinion column in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', proposing that they be a nominee for a British

World Heritage World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

bid, citing them as being "unique to British culture" because of their "proud heritage of serving shoe leather with

Béarnaise sauce Béarnaise sauce (; ) is a sauce made of clarified butter, egg yolk, white wine vinegar, and herbs. It is regarded as a "child" of hollandaise sauce. The difference is in the flavoring: béarnaise uses shallot, black pepper, and tarragon, while ...

to neon-addled out-of-towners."

Location

Angus Steakhouse now lists five restaurants in London: two in the West End, at 21

Coventry Street Coventry Street is a short street in the West End of London, connecting Piccadilly Circus to Leicester Square. Part of the street is a section of the A4 road (England), A4, a major road through London. It is named after the politician Henry Cov ...

the flagship in Piccadilly Circus, Cranbourn Street in Leicester Square; two just off Oxford Street, 243

Argyll Street Argyll Street is a street in the Soho district of Central London. It links Great Marlborough Street to the south to Oxford Street in the north and is connected to Regent Street to the west by Little Argyll Street. Historically it was sometimes w ...

in Oxford Circus, and at 10 Woodstock Street by Bond Street; and one located opposite Paddington Station, at 163 Praed Street.

References

External links

Official website
{{Restaurants in London Steakhouses Restaurant chains in the United Kingdom Restaurants in London Restaurants established in 1968 1968 establishments in England British companies established in 1968