No disrespect to Il Mirto, but I my understanding was that they took on the premises with the intention of running a restaurant, similar to their other one in Dulwich, but they hit some restriction or other and were forced into radically changing their business model. In my opinion, it never really took off. It reminded me of a little shop that I rented-out in about 1990 running as an Italian deli & coffee bar called Enzo. The guy was authentic and passionate about his trade, like the chap at Il Mirto, but it was a bit hap-hazard and it never quite worked. The other thing was that Enzo (like Il Mirto) also had another business interest, wholesaling his own range of fresh pastas, jarred porchini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and olives etc so the shop wasn’t the be-all and end-all as far as he was concerned.
They were expecting to be able to sell pizza. But they were not allowed by the council. Obviously a big shift. They actually have been trying to sell the lease since almost they opened.
Inyetesting to find out what’s coming next !
I’m really naive to this sort of stuff. But why wouldn’t you be allowed? Is it something to do with kitchen exhaust extraction? Or is it a different licence or something.
I had no idea that this was an offshoot of a restaurant business in East Dulwich. I wonder if that business will take back some of the retail operations.
I presume the premises are currently classed A1 for retail use. To use as a restaurant the council would need to approve a change of class to A3 for restaurants.
From Lewisham planning I can see there was an effort to do this back in 2008, but nothing since. Has Il Mirto been there that long?
No they’ve only been around a few years. If I remember correctly, after they’d signed the lease on the shop, they took soundings from Lewisham’s planning team, and were advised that an attempt to switch to A3 was likely to fail, so they never bothered even applying for permission to do that.
the fennel sausage crisis might be over- Il Mirto must surely sell them in their East Dulwich deli, just round the corner from ED station. never been there and will have a look next time I’m up that way. http://ilmirto.co.uk/italian-deli-gelato/
Do they have a deli there? The website seemed to suggest that was just a restaurant/wine bar and the retail unit (deli) was here in Forest Hill. I suppose one could just call bu that is just so old fashioned.
Last time I bought them I bought the whole pack so it may have the producer on the label. If there, I’ll send you a PM.
Really sorry to lose Il Mirto, not least for the fennel sausage. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t try to take in the lease of e.g. Dartmouth Tandoori, since they wanted to open a restaurant here. It’s not like there aren’t premises.
Every time there’s a step forward in the area it feels like there’s a step back. Il Mirto, Montage, Fig and Pistachio, Perry Vale… Why can’t good places stay?
Chinese people used to own a fusion place in Dartmouth Road on the left going up from Forest Hill Station.
Food was good, but restaurant didn’t last for long as far as I remember.
It’s interesting that Il Mirto is to become a restaurant, as they originally hoped to open as a pizza restaurant, but were informally advised by the council that a change of planning consent would likely not be forthcoming, so they switched strategy to become a gelateria and deli.
Yes surprising and a bit disappointing as it would be nice to have a new type of business to what’s already available. The owner confirmed it will be a Chinese Fusion restaurant when I went over to ask the builders.
