Jeremy King: The Restaurateur Behind The Ivy, Le Caprice and The Wolseley

Jeremy King: The Restaurateur Behind The Ivy, Le Caprice and The Wolseley

Author: Global March 20, 2026 Duration: 1:03:05

From Le Caprice and The Ivy to The Wolseley and Brasserie Zédel, Jeremy King has helped define the way London eats, drinks and sees itself. His restaurants became institutions, attracting everyone from Princess Diana and Lucian Freud to generations of actors, artists, politicians and power players.

In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with the legendary restaurateur to trace an extraordinary life behind some of the capital’s most iconic dining rooms. Jeremy reflects on a childhood shaped by shyness, social awkwardness and a lasting sense of being an outsider, before explaining how an early fascination with risk led him to make major life decisions according to the throw of a dice, including the choice that pulled him away from Cambridge University and into hospitality.

They discuss his first jobs in the restaurant world, the formative partnership with Chris Corbin, and the instincts that helped create some of London’s most celebrated establishments. Jeremy reveals why great restaurants are about far more than food, how atmosphere and service can transform a room, and why making people feel they belong matters just as much as what is on the plate.

From celebrity diners and royal visits to business setbacks, reinvention and the long-awaited reopening of Simpson’s, the conversation moves through the highs, the risks and the resilience behind a singular career. Warm, candid and full of hard won insight, this is a conversation about ambition, instinct and the subtle art of creating places people never forget.

Simpson's in The Strand

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Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

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