'A visionary and a real legend': industry pays homage to Sir Tenrence Conran, iconic designer and restaurateur

Tanwen Dawn-Hiscox

Deputy Editor

On Saturday, the world bid farewell to Sir Terence Conran, the designer, businessman and restaurateur who upended UK retail and interior design.

88 year-old Sir Terence was one of Britain's most prominent designers - founder of Habitat, Mothercare, the Design Museum and a number of restaurants.

These included two Michelin-starred Bibendum, Neal Street Restaurant, The Blueprint Cafe at the museum he founded, and, also on the Thames Shad stretch, Pont de la Tour and Butlers Wharf Chophouse, Quaglino's, as well as Albion and The Boundary in Shoreditch.

Claude Bosi, chef patron of the iconic restaurant and former Michelin headquarters, Bibendum, posted a heartfelt message in honour of Terence Conran.

He said: "Today I lost one of my business partners; Sir Terence Conran was a visionary and a real legend. I really wish I met him earlier. This restaurant was so important to him; we will do our best to continue to make him proud. Tonight I will have a cigar in his honour. All my thoughts with his family - RIP Sir Terence."

The Michelin Guide itself paid tribute to Sir Terence, calling him "a visionary who transformed the London restaurant scene" who "made eating out glamorous, exciting and stylish."

Three of Terence's five children made names for themselves in the restaurant industry, Tom with his restaurant group behind successful Notting Hill operation, Tom's Deli, Ned with his El Camino Mexican food and drink concept in Soho, and Sophie through her cookbooks and food writing.

Terence's third wife, Caroline, is a food writer and the ex-Chairman of the Guild of Food Writers, as well as a Trustee of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery.

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Sir Terence's impact on British design, retail and restaurants will undoubtedly endure, as his legacy will live on through the people whose careers were influenced by his own.

Oh man. Terence Conran - a man who genuinely did change how we live and eat, and brought joy and voluptuous pleasure at a time when the country was starved of it.

Game-changer: that over-used word for once truly fitting.
— Marina O'Loughlin (@MarinaOLoughlin) September 12, 2020

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