Fallow founder James Robson: Labour is killing hospitality
James Robson is one of the most successful restaurateurs in London, setting up the hugely successful Fallow, Roe and Fowl restaurants with his business partners Will Murray and Jack Croft.
In less than two years, Fallow went from a promising pop-up to a vast operation employing 300 people and serving up to 1,000 covers a day, plating up sustainably-minded dishes including cod’s head and corn ribs.
The empire now includes beak-to-feet chicken restaurant Fowl and Canary Wharf favourite Roe, which maintains the excellent vibe of Fallow and Fowl but dresses it in a business-casual suit.
Robson is also, it turns out, an excellent raconteur and one hell of a host. What began as a civilised lunch at Fallow – a hospitality masterclass – soon descended into an afternoon drinking excellent wine, then a cocktail session with various industry people at Fowl, and before I knew it my fiancee and I (God knows when she joined the party) were downing shots at Quo Vadis at 3am.
Robson knows the London hospitality business as well as anyone so we’re delighted he has signed up to be a judge for our first Toast the City awards. Here’s what he had to say.
What do you love about the Square Mile?
There’s just so much history, you know. And conversely, you have amazing restaurants in skyscrapers where the views are outstanding. But my favourite thing is all the little hidden gems, which we need to protect and celebrate.
You have amazing old boozers like Simpsons Tavern, which is sadly locked in a landlord dispute. Places like that should have heritage status. Sweetings is an institution – I love everything about that place. Burgundy, Guinness and seafood: what more could you want? The new builds are fantastic but the City manages to keep hold of its heritage.
How did you end up starting Fallow?
I come from an East London family and like all East London families, we worked hard. My mother had a job at Rothschild as a secretary and made it up to chief cashier and my father had a delicatessen in Chapel Market. And like all successful East Londoners, they bought a house in Essex and tried to do good things for their kids.
My brother and I went to a half decent school in Billericay but I hated it and left at 17. I went into branch banking with Lloyds Bank and then started collecting bottles at a nightclub called Embargo in Chelsea, which was quite hot at the time. It was filled with people like Rusty Egan, Steve Strange, Elton John, Mariah Carey when she was about 17…
I was working four nights in the nightclub and five days in the bank, until one day I fell asleep on the motorway on the way home and decided I should probably choose one. So I went into hospitality, worked for a few places and eventually set up my first restaurant, Mews of Mayfair.
What are the challenges facing the industry?
Let’s face it, this government has got rid of just about every international person with money. I can’t say I’m anti-Labour because I didn’t vote for the Conservatives last time around but I am anti the Chancellor. What they’ve done to business has absolutely killed us. They have scared the international wealth out of London.
Those are the people who are renting the £5,000 to £10,000 pound a month flats. They’re the ones that are putting their kids through private school. They’re the ones who are spending a lot of money in our restaurants. And they’ve gone.
I speak to friends in Milan, Switzerland, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and they’re cleaning up because everyone has gone running out there because they’re not anti-business, and they’re not taxing the hell out of you.
For every £100 I create, I’m lucky if I get £30 of it, while also paying the highest PAYE and rates in the world. It’s a bit grim. But I love London, I’m pro London. We have a saying in this company: ‘Find a way’ – and we’ll find a way.
Name three things that would help
I would wipe out rates, literally wipe them out, because it’s just unfair. We’re competing with delivery companies who have a dark kitchen in a basement and don’t pay tax in this country. I would reduce VAT on food and beverage. And I would stop taxing the hell out of people that create employment.
What are your future plans?
We got very close to signing a restaurant on Sloane Square last year, but unfortunately, the rent just got out of hand. I actually went above where I wanted to go and in hindsight I’m kind of glad I didn’t get it. But the site was perfect.
We think Fallow is probably strong enough now to go to New York, but again it’s hard. As much as America is more pro-business than we are, they’ve still got huge union issues, and building out there is even harder than it is in the UK.
Fowl is not quite ready to roll out yet but it’s getting close – another year of tweaking and understanding the product and the customer base and it might be ready to be scaled. Personally, I would like another big restaurant in West London.
What about the Middle East?
That’s tricky for us. You can’t beat the sustainability drum and then fly cod heads into Dubai. Do I want to do the Middle East? Sure, because the architecture and the placemaking is phenomenal.
I was in Abu Dhabi, and when you look at the Guggenheim they’re building, when you look at the Louvre they’ve just put in, these are phenomenal developments. They’re building for the next three, four, five hundred years. So never say never.
But if we do it, we’ve got to find the right partner, someone that’s into genuine sustainability rather than a lot of the glitz and the glamour that’s going on out there.
