London's Beloved Daquise Polish Restaurant Faces Closure After 78 Years

Daquise, the Polish restaurant on Thurloe Street that has fed Londoners of every background since 1947, faces closure or forced relocation after Transport for London announced it must vacate hospitality and retail units along the South Kensington station footprint to carry out long-overdue reconstruction works.

TfL, which is responsible for the redevelopment, says the South Kensington station is approximately 150 years old and requires major restoration, including step-free access upgrades, new escalator provision for disabled passengers, and the preservation of the station's historic arcade and its architectural features. Those works make it impossible for the Thurloe Street units, where Daquise operates, to remain occupied during the project. TfL has committed to giving all affected tenants at least 12 months' notice and to helping them find alternative premises, either within the TfL estate or elsewhere, though no specific relocation site or timeline has been confirmed publicly.

For the Polish community in London and for South Kensington regulars, the stakes are considerable. Established in 1947, Daquise has operated continuously through the postwar decades, building a clientele that crossed every social boundary. The restaurant has been documented as a haunt of Roman Polanski and Christine Keeler, and a photograph records the Duke of Kent dining there alongside renowned London portraitist Barbara Kaczmarowska-Hamilton, illustrating the singular position it occupied in the city's cultural life.

No owners or operators of Daquise have issued a public statement confirming whether they intend to close permanently or pursue relocation under TfL's assistance program. The distinction matters enormously for the restaurant's kitchen and floor staff, who would face very different outcomes depending on whether the business reconstitutes elsewhere or simply shuts after nearly eight decades of continuous service.

The redevelopment also raises unresolved questions about heritage trade-offs. TfL has framed the project partly as a preservation effort, citing the need to restore the station's historic arcade and maintain its architectural character, yet the same works would displace one of the few remaining post-immigration Polish dining institutions in central London. Whether the 12-month notice commitment translates into a genuine relocation or a managed wind-down remains to be seen.