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 the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

of steak houses in central London. In 2001, there were about 30 outlets; five remain open as of July 2020. The name reflects

Aberdeen Angus The Aberdeen Angus, sometimes simply Angus, is a Scottish breed of small beef cattle. It derives from cattle native to the counties of Aberdeen, Banff, Kincardine and Angus in north-eastern Scotland. In 2018 the breed accounted for over ...

, a common 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 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 food establishm ...

. 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, knitted fabric or textile similar to velvet or velveteen. It is usually made from cotton, but can also be made from synthetic materials such as polyester. Often, it contains a percentage of elastane, ...

banquette A banquette 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 A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ...

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 ...

and

Black Forest gateau Black Forest gâteau or Black Forest cake (American English) is a chocolate sponge cake with a rich cherry filling based on the German dessert (), literally "Black Forest Cherry-torte". Typically, Black Forest gateau consists of several laye ...

. ''

The Good Food Guide ''The Good Food Guide'' has been reviewing the best restaurants, pubs and cafés in Great Britain since 1951. In October 2021, Adam Hyman purchased ''The Good Food Guide'' for an undisclosed sum from Waitrose & Partners. The ''Guide'' is being r ...

'' 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 Fr ...

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 Steak Houses 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) to differentiate its ...

. In 1980 EMI sold 13 restaurants to

Thistle Hotels Thistle Hotels, run by glh., is a UK-based hotel company with a portfolio of 7 Central London hotels, one at London Heathrow and one in Dorset, operating in the three and four star sector. History It was set up by Scottish & Newcastle in 1965 ...

. 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) that has been created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps will typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souveni ...

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 invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of t ...

, 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, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

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"—especially in c ...

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 Berwin Leighton Paisner (''BLP'') was an international law firm with 14 offices across 10 countries globally, specializing in real estate, finance, litigation and corporate risk, private wealth and tax. In 2018, Bryan Cave merged with Berwin L ...

kept the firm trading as a

going concern A going concern is 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 next 12 months or the spec ...

, 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 arcades. In 2008, Noble told ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' 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 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

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

World Heritage A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

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 emulsified in egg yolks and white wine vinegar and flavored with herbs. It is widely regarded as the "child" of the Hollandaise sauce. The difference is only in the flavoring: Béarnaise ...

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, a major road through London. It is named after the politician Henry Coventry, secretar ...

the flagship in Piccadilly Circus, Cranbourn Street in Leicester Square; two just off Oxford Street, 243 Argyll Street 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 Restaurants in London Restaurants established in 1968 1968 establishments in England British companies established in 1968