London Shell Co close boat restaurants due to rising costs

Siblings Harry and Leah Lobek started London Shell Co as a pop-up on the Regent's Canal in 2015.

The combination of well-sourced wines paired with imaginative fish dishes proved such a success that they began regular dinner cruises aboard The Prince Regent the following year.

Harry and Leah outside their Swains Lane restaurant and seafood restaurant (Image: Liz & Max Haarala Hamilton)

They took on a second boat, The Grand Duchess, moored in Paddington Basin, before opening their fishmonger and fish restaurant in Swain's Lane, Highgate, last April.

The 25-cover outfit been praised by both The Telegraph's William Sitwell and Sunday Times critic Giles Coren, with Sitwell haling it "a jolly, breezy, upbeat and very enticing place," while Coren said he'd visited a dozen times and "it just gets better each time."

But they informed "discerning sailors" that the Grand Duchess would close on September 28, with The Prince Regent making her last cruise on October 13.

Harry, who grew up in Camden and Hampstead and attended Highgate School, says rising maintenance and overhead costs combined with turbulent trading conditions meant they were coming ashore.

London Shell Co's dinner cruises along the Regent's Canal became very popular (Image: Archant)

"It's a shame to close when your customer ratings are so high," says the Dartmouth Park resident.

"We absolutely loved the cruising boat in particular, it's been really fun."

He added: "We wanted to do something stand out and unique, and started out doing 12 covers three times a week on a small wooden boat - it took off from there.

"We opened three restaurants off the back of that, we had a unique location and decent food at a good price. It had an outlaw mentality that captured the imagination - a romantic pirate feel about it that appealed to people."

But Harry says the Paddington basin location "suffered badly in the wake of Covid" with lower footfall. At the same time corporate hires went down, energy prices rose, and the cost of living crisis bit.

"Fish restaurants and boats are quite seasonal and when you have a bad six months it puts you in a difficult situation," he said. 

When The Prince Regent needed a £50,000 investment he said "it didn't make sense to spend that on an asset you don't own".

Harry's first "proper job" at 18 was in Maxwell's burger restaurant in Hampstead, and he continued to work in restaurants during a decade as an actor.

"It got to the point where I was working more in restaurants than on the stage so I switched focus, took some courses and started doing events."

Deciding to set up his own business, he roped in sister Leah, who was then working in insurance.

"We have always been thick as thieves our whole lives, we are best mates and love working together," says Harry.

Now, spurred on by their Highgate venture, they may expand with a similar neighbourhood concept if they find "the right place and the right area."

"Highgate has changed since Leah and I went to school here," he says. "It was known for pubs with decent food but not so much for restaurants, but there is a real buzz in this area and a lot of families. It's gone so well and we have a lot of local goodwill.

"Giles Coren had been a regular for a while and wasn't going to review it because it wasn't a national press story, but he started coming in a couple of times a week and liked what we were offering.

"We feel really lucky to have someone so influential in our neighbourhood who has taken an interest."