The Gay Hsar's sale should teach to e or lose our favoure rtrants | Rtrants | The Guardian

Contents:

• GAY HSAR RTRANT DCH OLD-TIME SPICY GOSSIP FOR MORN SOHO VIBE
• GAY HSAR ART: GRAN WHO STCK A POSE FOR A EE LUNCH
• LONDON’S GAY HSAR REOPENS AFTER TWO YEARS UNR A NEW NAME
• LAST ORRS AT THE GAY HSAR – THE LEFT’S HOTBED OF PLOTS, GOSSIP AND GOULASH
• THE LEGENDARY GAY HSAR RTRANT GETS A MAKEOVER
• INSI NOBLE ROT SOHO, THE NEW "CTODIAN" OF THE GAY HSAR SE AND S HUNGARIAN HERAGE
• THE GAY HSAR, 2 GREEK STREET, LONDON W1
• 'GOULASH -OPERATIVE' LAST DCH BID TO SAVE SOHO'S GAY HSAR HUNGARIAN RTRANT
• LONDON’S LEGENDARY HUNGARIAN RTRANT ‘GAY HSAR’ REOPENS UNR NEW NAME ‘NOBLE ROT’
• LEFTI FORM A -OP TO SAVE GAY HSAR FOR THE NATN
• THE GAY HSAR'S SALE SHOULD TEACH TO E OR LOSE OUR FAVOURE RTRANTS
• GRACE DENT REVIEWS GAY HSAR
• THE GAY HSAR
• THE GAY HSAR: THE STORY OF THE MOST FAMO HUNGARIAN RTRANT ABROAD

GAY HSAR RTRANT DCH OLD-TIME SPICY GOSSIP FOR MORN SOHO VIBE

Goulash is once aga on the menu, but this time bbg shoulrs wh fe French and English-style okg rather than meat-heavy Hungarian classics – and paired wh some of the world’s ft than two years sce the legendary Gay Hsar London closed s doors, a new rtrant is openg on the se on 18 Septembenr new owners and wh a bold, ntemporary style that is more than jt a nod to s precsor’s illtr s heyday the Hungarian rtrant the centre of Soho was a hotbed of polil plottg, backstabbg, al-makg and gossip, when s fame rted not so much on the qualy of s menu – barely changed years – but on s reputatn as the beatg heart of polil openg 1953, the jewel-loured rooms adorned wh thick draped velvet curtas have played host to generatns of policians, many om the left, cludg Anr Bevan, Michael Foot, Tom Driberg, Ian Mikardo and Barbara Castle.

GAY HSAR ART: GRAN WHO STCK A POSE FOR A EE LUNCH

The shelv which groaned wh polil tom are now lan wh okery books cludg Esffier’s Le Gui Culaire and guis to the world’s ft first-floor dg room is beg renamed The Rowson Sue to honour the role of polil rtoonist Mart Rowson as an enthiastic supporter of the Gay Hsar and an acerbic and irreverent chronicler of the changg face of Soho and polil famo gallery of 60-pl rtoons of the polil ele’s great and not-so-good – officially “on loan” – were hung wall-to-wall the downstairs dg room for many years, but have been languishg storage sce the rtrant’s closure June, who retas pyright, and prev owner Cos Hotels are unrstood to have recently agreed to donate the llectn to the Natnal Portra Gallery as an “absolute gift” new rtrant will stead display two dramatic new “triptych” patgs by Rowson. On one si Gay Hsar stalwarts Labour lear Michael Foot and Barbara Castle are pictured leavg the rtrant, while the morn-day versn chefs cludg Angela Hartt and Nigella Lawson are shown on Greek Street alongsi Amy Wehoe and, bizarrely, journalist Rod Liddle drag.

Wrg about the rtrant’s new rnatn a recent issue of Noble Rot magaze, Guardian lumnist Suzanne Moore said: “I hope the sndals and plottg and affairs and appropriate behavur that characterised the old Gay Hsar will ntue.

LONDON’S GAY HSAR REOPENS AFTER TWO YEARS UNR A NEW NAME

For nearly two s a seri of irreverent polil rtoons graced an entire wall of the celebrated Gay Hsar rtrant London’s Soho – a snapshot of Wtmster life that lighted tourists and regulars Michael Foot’s distctive whe trs to a glowerg Alastair Campbell, the 63 ritur of leadg polil figur drawn over lunch are now to be shared wh a wir dience, thanks to a jot gift to the Natnal Portra Gallery by their creator Mart Rowson and Cos Hotels, which ran the Soho tablishment until s closure June 2018. A new rtrant opened on the se September at the Gay Hsar 2007. ”For 65 years - sce openg 1953 until s closure 2018 – the Gay Hsar played host to generatns of policians, wrers and artists wh a Hungarian-style meaty menu that barely Gay Hsar Soho, London.

LAST ORRS AT THE GAY HSAR – THE LEFT’S HOTBED OF PLOTS, GOSSIP AND GOULASH

“The Gay Hsar drawgs follow the tradn of satiril riture portras of polics and social life tablished by artists such as Jam Gillray, who has over 800 works the llectn, ” he said. Noble Rot Soho is set the former se of the Gay Hsar on Greek St, once notor as the lair of many left-wg policians. It clus subtle referenc to The Gay Hsar’s past and the most life-enhancg roast chicken wh morels and v jne sce to be found this si of France’s Jura.

The legendary Gay Hsar rtrant of SoHo, which featured thentic Hungarian dish, closed 2018, 65 years after s openg.

THE LEGENDARY GAY HSAR RTRANT GETS A MAKEOVER

Gay Hsar was opened 1953, wh a dark yet charmg terr, and two private rooms, which were the perfect spots for plottg, and the place quickly beme favoured by the lears of the Labour Party, as well as left-wg journalists and tellectuals. The rtrant was not named after a gay valry soldier, but after Imre Kálmán’s world-famo operetta, tled The Gay Hsars English (Tatárjárás), which premiered Budapt 1908.

INSI NOBLE ROT SOHO, THE NEW "CTODIAN" OF THE GAY HSAR SE AND S HUNGARIAN HERAGE

At the time, gay meant happy and cheerful. Gay Hsar was closed 2018.

The Gay Hsar is among the most celebrated rtrants London but s fame rts not so much on the qualy of s chilled wild-cherry soup and s goulash, but on s reputatn as the beatg heart of polil Hungarian rtrant the centre of Soho has played host to generatns of policians, many drawn om the left, cludg Anr Bevan, Michael Foot, Tom Driberg, Ian Mikardo and Barbara Castle.

THE GAY HSAR, 2 GREEK STREET, LONDON W1

“We believe now is the time to create a new Gay Hsar, and are talks wh possible partners who agree wh that this unique tablishment mt be saved, ” said the Goulash Co-operative’s spokman John Goodman. ”Sce 1953 the Gay Hsar has played host to generatns of policians, cludg Peter Manlson.

Sassie, who died 1999, sold the Gay Hsar to the Rtrant Partnership more than six s the tradnal r of the open-plan ground-floor rtrant and two crimson-hued private rooms – nnected by a narrow stairse – has barely changed, wh every space and surface stuffed wh books, ritur and pictur. Supporters of the Gay Hsar have already raised a large sum wh big and small donatns.

”The Gay Hsar’s general manager John Wrobel, who has led the roost there for more than 25 years, said: “This is the end of an era and a big shock for me personally.

'GOULASH -OPERATIVE' LAST DCH BID TO SAVE SOHO'S GAY HSAR HUNGARIAN RTRANT

“It don’t feel like prsure, ” adms Dan Keelg, -founr of Noble Rot Bloomsbury, which tomorrow opens s send se  the buildg that hoed the famo – some might say famo – Gay Hsar. The Gay Hsar opened 1953 on Greek Street, the heart of Soho.

LONDON’S LEGENDARY HUNGARIAN RTRANT ‘GAY HSAR’ REOPENS UNR NEW NAME ‘NOBLE ROT’

But anyone was wele, and the Gay Hsar was supposedly where Tory ‘Wets’ plotted to overthrow Margaret Thatcher the early 1980s. The Gay Hsar se has been mornised, the ground-floor dg room’s old rpet removed favour of dark floorboards.

LEFTI FORM A -OP TO SAVE GAY HSAR FOR THE NATN

Sign up to IndyEat's ee newsletter for weekly recip, foodie featur and okbook releasGet our Now Hear This email for eeIf I was nng BBC4, I'd missn a documentary about The Gay Hsar.

Ever sce opened 1953, the fate of The Gay Hsar has been timately bound up wh that of Bra's tellectual class, peakg 1980 wh the electn of the late Michael Foot as Labour rtrant was opened by the son of a ship owner, Victor Sassie, who was sent to Budapt 1932 by the Brish Hotel and Rtrant Associatn; after trag unr Károly Gunl, a culary legend Hungary, he returned to London to open his first rtrant, Budapt on Dean Street. Durg the war, he served wh Brish telligence Hungary, then opened a send Budapt on Frh Street before fally unveilg The Gay immediately attracted the patronage of several publishers the area, cludg Jonathan Cape and Rupert Hart-Davis, and wasn't long before uld name TS Ellt among s regulars. They were the high-livg, sed branch of the Party – not so much champagne socialists as Tokay Gay Hsar's fame peaked the early 1970s when The Daily Mail got hold of a bill emisg jt how lavishly a Soviet legatn had been entertaed by the Unn of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers.

THE GAY HSAR'S SALE SHOULD TEACH TO E OR LOSE OUR FAVOURE RTRANTS

95 bottle of Chablis, seems a ltle steep for Eastern European fort the mid-1980s, when I was a thstg young journalist, I ed to lunch at The Gay Hsar que often and I remember the food beg a lot better than this.

GRACE DENT REVIEWS GAY HSAR

As a general le, the more discrimate a person is their mment to socialist dogma, the more discerng their doubt The Gay Hsar will soldier on.

11/20Sr: 1-9 stay home and ok, 10-11 needs help, 12 ok, 13 pleasant enough, 14 good, 15 very good, 16 pable of greatns, 17 special, n't wa to go back, 18 highly honourable, 19 unique and memorable, 20 as good as getsThe Gay Hsar 2 Greek Street, London W1, tel: 020 7437 0973 Lunch and dner, Monday to Saturday. A "goulash -operative" is makg a last dch bid to safeguard the future of Soho's legendary Gay Hsar rtrant this nsortium, which clus the lik of former Labour lear Lord Knock and Tory donor Lord Ashcroft, is biddg for the rtrant when go on sale on Thursday.

THE GAY HSAR

A long-time favoure of left-wg policians and journalists, the Gay Hsar, Greek Street, has been put up for ctn by owners Cos Hotels after seeg profs take a h the the newly formed Goulash Co-operative Ltd, ma up of a group of journalists, policians and lawyers, aims to allow the Hungarian rtrant to rema directors clu former edor of The People, Bill Hagerty, left-wg journalist and thor Mark Seddon, Labour MP Tom Watson and rtoonist Mart Rowson. The vendors are askg for £500, 000 for the eight year lease when go on sale on letter to prospective vtors says: "The Gay Hsar, as we all know, is part and parcel of a rich culary, journalistic and polil tradn.

THE GAY HSAR: THE STORY OF THE MOST FAMO HUNGARIAN RTRANT ABROAD

The legendary Hungarian rtrant London, Gay Hsar, named after Imre Kálmán’s world-famo operetta, The Gay Hsars (Tatárjárás), closed 2018. ’ Later, he opened Gay Hsar 1953.