Saving Veeraswamy, a British Institution

Next year Veeraswamy, the oldest surviving Indian restaurant in Britain—actually, its owners claim it could be the oldest surviving Indian restaurant in the world—will be 100 years old.

- Karan Thapar

Alas, that could also be the precise moment it ceases to exist. So, what is intended as a celebration could end up a wake.

Veeraswamy is perhaps one of the best-known landmarks on London's Regent Street. Not so long ago it had Austin Reed on its left and Aquascutum in front. Both of those legendary clothiers have disappeared. They have passed into history. Is that what might happen to Veeraswamy?

If it does, its owners, Ranjit Mathrani and Namita Panjabi, believe it would be "cultural philistinism." Not many would disagree.

It was way back in 1926 that Veeraswamy was founded by Edward Palmer, the great-grandson of General William Palmer and the Moghul Princess Faisan Nissa Begum. The restaurant is named after his grandmother Veera. In 1937 it became the first establishment outside India to install a tandoor oven. In the 1940s, it survived the blitz, its diners allegedly undeterred by German bombs.