W1 news: five Mayfair restaurants enter the Michelin Guide, HMV Oxford Street to close, and the Christmas lights dates (17 October 2026)
Five of the seven London restaurants added to the Michelin Guide in September are in W1, and four of them are in Mayfair. HMV says its Oxford Street flagship will close in March 2027 after a proposed rent rise.
Also this fortnight: an Eastern European chophouse for the crypt under St George's Hanover Square, a large Georgian restaurant for the old Inamo site on Wardour Street, and the first confirmed Christmas lights dates for Bond Street and Oxford Street.
Five W1 restaurants added to the Michelin Guide in September
Time Out's monthly round-up of Michelin Guide additions, published on 5 October, lists seven London restaurants added in September, and five of them have W1 postcodes. Four are in Mayfair: Bar des Prés at 41a South Audley Street (W1K 2PS), which moved to the address in May; chez Rose, the French bistro at 5 Pollen Street (W1S 1NE); Dante at Claridge's, 55 Brook Street (W1K 4HR), which became permanent in mid-June after a residency; and Sushi Amamoto, a 16-seat omakase at 36 Albemarle Street (W1S 4JE) on the former Taku site, with menus of 17 courses for £180 or 22 courses for £380. The fifth is DakaDaka, the Georgian restaurant at 10 Heddon Street (W1B 4BX), just off Regent Street.
These are listings in the guide, not new stars. Stars for Great Britain and Ireland are given out at the annual ceremony, and no date for the 2027 edition had been announced when we checked on 17 October.
Source: Time Out, 5 October 2026.
HMV to close its Oxford Street flagship in March 2027
HMV has announced that its store at 363 Oxford Street, the address of its first shop in 1921, will close in March 2027. The store reopened in 2023 after four years shut. Time Out reports that the landlords proposed to double the rent and that, with the cost of renovation work, the shop became financially unviable, even though HMV says sales were up 25 per cent year on year.
Managing director Phil Halliday said the company is actively looking for another flagship space in the West End. More than 50 staff are affected, and HMV hopes to move them to its other London stores and head office.
Source: Time Out, 13 October 2026.
Elezar, a chophouse from the Goodman co-founder, opens under St George's Hanover Square on 2 November
Misha Zelman, of Zelman Meats and one of the people behind Goodman and Burger & Lobster, is opening Elezar, billed as an "Eastern European chophouse", in the crypt below St George's Church near Hanover Square. The address is The Vestry, 2A Mill Street, W1S 1FX, and the opening date is 2 November 2026.
Head chef Erik Miotto, previously at Cycene and Akoko, will cook pierogi, caviar-led snacks and grilled meat and fish, including tuna ribeye, a Dingley Dell pork chop, and Denver and picanha steaks. Hot Dinners reports that all mains will be £28, with bigger sharing cuts on top. The space has had a short and patchy history: a planned Brad Carter restaurant never opened there, and an Aldo Zilli venture did not last.
Source: Hot Dinners, 12 October 2026.
Aba-Ra brings Georgian food to the former Inamo site on Wardour Street in November
Aba-Ra, the Georgian restaurant that opened on Brick Lane in 2023, is opening a second site at 134 to 136 Wardour Street, W1F 8ZP, in November 2026, taking over the space that used to be Inamo. Founder Lia Walsh is adding an open kitchen in the main dining room and a wine cellar downstairs with a private dining room attached.
The menu will include smaller-than-usual khachapuri with meat and vegetable versions, khinkali dumplings, soup in clay pots under baked bread, and skewers from a charcoal grill. The wine list will be mainly Georgian, run by a sommelier brought over from Georgia. It joins DakaDaka in Mayfair and Kinkally in Fitzrovia as W1's Georgian options.
Source: Hot Dinners, 16 October 2026.
Christmas lights: Bond Street closes to traffic on 12 November, Oxford Street goes Harry Potter
Bond Street will close to traffic from 4pm to 8pm on Thursday 12 November for its Christmas evening, with brands along the street offering seasonal food and drink, including hot chocolate from Fendi, panettone from Etro, crêpes from Jimmy Choo and festive treats from sketch. The Bond Street business district published the details on 15 October.
Oxford Street's lights will include Harry Potter designs this year, tied to the HBO series of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone due on Christmas Day. Time Out reports that the details are being kept back until the switch-on, which usually happens in early November, and that a Harry Potter flagship shop opens on Oxford Street on 4 November. No Oxford Street switch-on date had been confirmed by 16 October.
Already announced: Carnaby's lights go on on Wednesday 4 November with a 1990s theme, Regent Street's Spirit of Christmas angels from Thursday 5 November with a free traffic-free evening from 5pm to 9pm, and Merry Marylebone on Wednesday 11 November, with the switch-on in Devonshire Street at 6pm.
Sources: Bond Street, 15 October 2026; Time Out, 7 October 2026; Londonist, 16 October 2026; Marylebone Village.
What this means
For a booking in the next few weeks, the Michelin additions are the safest new names on the list, and Elezar's £28 mains are unusually low for Mayfair. Anyone who wants HMV's Oxford Street shop has until March 2027. For the lights, Carnaby and Regent Street come first, on 4 and 5 November, followed by Marylebone on the 11th and Bond Street on the 12th; Oxford Street's date is still to come.