Pollen Street Social
It closed on 31 July 2024, after thirteen years and a Michelin star it had held since its first six months.
Why go
You cannot. Jason Atherton opened Pollen Street Social at 8-10 Pollen Street in 2011, his first restaurant after leaving the Gordon Ramsay group, and it took a Michelin star inside six months and kept it to the end (Hot Dinners). It gave its name to his company, The Social Company, and of all his restaurants it was the one where he was most likely to be in the kitchen. He announced the closure on Instagram in March 2024 and the doors shut on 31 July that year. The site reopened in August 2024 as a grill called Mary's, which lasted under a year, and the Motcombs restaurant group bought it in April 2025 to relaunch as Motcombs Tavern. Atherton's cocktail bar The Blind Pig moved into the large bar space above (Hot Dinners).
Order this / avoid
- Order: nothing. The kitchen has not cooked since July 2024 and no dish record was captured before it closed.
- Avoid: booking it. Listings and reservation sites outlive the businesses on them, and this one has been dead for two years.
What locals & experts say
- Gavin Hanly, Hot Dinners (25 March 2024), announcing it:
Another high-profile restaurant closure has been announced, with Jason Atherton's Mayfair restaurant Pollen Street Social due to shut its doors at the end of July.
The same piece gives the address and the closing date.1 - Jason Atherton, quoted from his own Instagram in that report:
it has been a rollercoaster of a ride and wonderful journey but it's time for us to say goodbye.
1 - Gavin Hanly again (7 April 2025), on the succession:
that restaurant was given a light do-over and replaced by grill restaurant Mary's
, which then closed and went to the Motcombs group. Trade reporting, so none of this is an endorsement of anything.2 - A negative check worth recording: no FSA food-business registration exists for Pollen Street Social, and an address search of Pollen Street W1S returns one unrelated kitchen. That absence is what prompted the closure search in the first place.
Good to know
- Status: closed, 31 July 2024. Listings and booking sites still show it open.
- What is there now: 8-10 Pollen Street was Mary's from August 2024 to around April 2025 and has been bought by the Motcombs group for Motcombs Tavern. Whether that has opened was not checked.
- Michelin: one star, from within six months of opening in 2011, held until closure. Recorded from bylined trade coverage; the guide's own site was deliberately not fetched.
- Where Atherton is now: The Social Company continues, and his Blind Pig cocktail bar moved to the bar space above the old restaurant.
Verdict
listed — It is gone. Jason Atherton opened Pollen Street Social in 2011 as his first solo restaurant after leaving the Gordon Ramsay group, took a Michelin star inside six months, held it for thirteen years, and named his whole company after the street. He closed it on 31 July 2024, saying on Instagram that it had been a rollercoaster and it was time to say goodbye. The site became a grill called Mary's in August 2024, that closed inside a year, and the Motcombs group has it now for a pub called Motcombs Tavern. His cocktail bar The Blind Pig moved upstairs. The row stays on the board because the history is real and because somebody will otherwise try to book it, which is the only reason a closed restaurant earns a rung at all.