Peter Evans (restaurateur)

Peter Evans (28 December 1926 – 19 July 2014) was an English restaurateur and writer. He opened The Cat's Whisker, a coffee bar in Soho considered among the first of its kind in the area.^[1] Evans later established the Peter Evans Eating Houses, a chain noted for its distinct interior design.^[2]

He collaborated with interior decorator David Hicks^[3] and architect Patrick Garnett of the firm Garnett Cloughley and Blakemore.^[4] According to Malcolm Newell in his book Mood and Atmosphere in Restaurants, the trio helped shape the decorative style that came to characterise London during the Swinging Sixties, offering vibrant venues for dining and dancing that catered to a fashionable, affluent clientele. Prominent cultural figures and style icons of the period included Twiggy, Biba, Mary Quant, the Teddy Boys, Cecil Gee, John Stephen, and the Carnaby Street scene.

In 1967, Evans launched the members-only Raffles nightclub on King's Road in Chelsea, which retained the original Hick's design until 2007.^[5] The club attracted notable figures of the sixties, including Princess Margaret,^[6] Princess Anne, and Prince Charles. Recently, the younger generation of royals, including Prince William during his courtship of Kate Middleton^[7] and Prince Harry with Chelsy Davy, frequented the club.^[8]

Peter Evans was born in Highgate, London. His father, Lionel Oliver Evans, was an inventor and builder.

After attending Belmont School in Mill Hill, Evans worked briefly in his father's business before moving to Ghana, West Africa. In Ghana, he worked with the Daily Mirror's West African subsidiary, the Daily Graphic, as their African correspondent. He covered Wimbledon tennis events and developed a strong dedication to sport.^[9]

When he returned to London, he joined Roy Wallace-Dunlop,^[10] a self-confessed cigarette smuggler from Casablanca, and opened The Cat's Whisker, which became one of the early coffee bars in the area, featuring Spanish dancing and espresso.

After Wallace-Dunlop left the partnership, Evans partnered with Robin Eldridge. They first changed direction by installing a jukebox. Later, they also began to feature live music. The Cat's Whisker quickly became a popular destination for young people flocking to Soho to listen to Lonnie Donegan's skiffle music and Tommy Steele's rock 'n roll.

In 1958, the police shut down The Cat's Whisker due to dangerous overcrowding. Later, Peter Evans formed a partnership with accountant Tom Beale and butcher Reg Eastwood.^[11] They opened the first Angus Steak Houses at the previous location of The Cat's Whisker, 1 Kingly Street, Soho.

When the partnership with Beale and Eastwood dissolved, Evans opened Peter Evans Eating Houses (PEEH) in locations such as Fleet Street, Chelsea, and Kensington. Evans enlisted the designer David Hicks^[12] and the architectural firm Garnett, Cloughley, and Blakemore (GCB)^[13] to design the PEEH restaurants. In 1967, Hicks designed Raffles,^[14] one of Evans's most enduring restaurants.

Evans, Hicks, and Garnett together and separately influenced style trends in the 1960s. The GCB portfolio included the revolving restaurant atop the Post Office Tower, the Chelsea Drug Store, a boutique on King's Road, and the George V Hotel in Paris. Hicks created the distinctive fork logo^[15] for the Peter Evans Eating Houses.

In 1964, Evans collaborated with illustrator Willie Rushton on The Anti-Bull Cook-Book, published in hardback by Anthony Blond. In 1967, a paperback edition titled The Stag Cook Book: A Low Guide to the High Art of Nosh was released by The New English Library - Four Square.

Peter Evans faced personal and business pressures, including a divorce in 1965. In 1969, he sold his holdings in Peter Evans Eating Houses to Norman Lonsdale, his banker.

He moved to Brisbane, Australia and married his second wife, journalist Gail Wintour. During his time in Brisbane, he wrote the magic-comedy television series "The Martin St James Show" for The Reg Grundy Organisation on the 10 Network and a 13-part radio program titled "Earthquake," showcasing modern music for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.^[16]

While living in Sydney, Evans freelanced for The Australian and The Bulletin and became a regular contributor to Scope,^[17] a weekly radio program on ABC.

Evans later returned to the UK and founded a merchant bank named Montgomery Evans. He attempted to repurchase Peter Evans Eating Houses and the nightclub Raffles from Norman Lonsdale, but they had already been sold to boxers Billy and George Walker. He wrote a novel for the New English Library about population growth and indifference to global hunger entitled "Megadeath."^[18] In it, Evans predicted that methane from livestock would impact climate change. As a consultant, he also did work for a children's charity.

Evans attempted to return to the restaurant business, first by introducing a fusion food concept, which did not gain traction. Another concept chain, The Vertical Refreshment Company, offered in-house games and discounted drinks in a dynamic pub environment. Opposition from brewers eventually led to its failure.

Peter and his wife Gail later moved to rural Pembrokeshire and turned their experience of transitioning from city to country living into a practical guide called "Guide To Village Riches."^[19] They also wrote a series of e-books, exploring drug-free treatments for common yet persistent ailments.

One such ailment is insomnia.^[20] Writing under the pen name Zachariah Evans,^[20] Evans wrote "Sleeplessness Cured: The Drug-free, Quick and Proven Way,"^[20] which earned the 'Best Social Invention' award from the London Institute for Social Inventions in 1993. In 1994, Evans and his wife received an honorable mention from the same institute for their book "Cigarette Addiction Permanently Cured."

The couple became disillusioned with governance and politicians and developed a model of governance they believed would address pressing global challenges while safeguarding taxpayer funds from misuse. Evans suggested permanently closing the Houses of Parliament, which he saw as expensive and redundant. He believed video-conferencing technology could eliminate the need for a physical Parliament and allow representatives to effectively serve the people, without unnecessary expense.

After founding the Peter Evans Eating Houses, he had a falling out with his banker, Kleinwort Benson Lonsdale, when he discovered that the bank's representative was planning to take over his role as chairman of the board. In response, Evans decided to terminate the representative's employment.^[21]

Evans's private life included many extravagances such as Bentley motor cars, Turnbull & Asser shirts, Lobb shoes,^[22] and Savile Row suits, along with high-stakes gambling and numerous romantic relationships, including one with diva Barbara Leigh. Evans's first wife, Yolanda and her mother disguised themselves to gather evidence of adultery to use in the divorce case.^[23]

Evans played poker with many well-known men such as journalists David Spanier and Peter Jenkins, actor Roger Moore, painter David Hockney, writer Alan Williams, and impresario Michael White. One card-playing acquaintance was John Bingham, who was later known as Lord Lucan and alleged to have been involved in the murder of Sandra Rivett in 1974. Evans opined that Lucan should come forward and prove his innocence.

Evans occasionally played at John Aspinall's Clermont Club, where luck supposedly favoured the house, as suggested in Douglas Thompson's book "The Hustler" and Channel 4's documentary "The Real Casino Royale." Alleged cheating led to a falling out with Aspinall, but Evans later forgave him because of Aspinall's passion for animals, asserting that humans, rather than animals, would be the ones to destroy the planet.^[24]

Evans, David Frost^[25] and Bryan Forbes temporarily took ownership of Private Eye magazine to help the publication overcome financial difficulties.^[26] Evans's and Frost's multimillion-pound redevelopment project of a property on King's Road fell through when another participant, Robert Maxwell, withdrew due to financial problems.^[16]

Evans made headlines on various occasions such as his arrest during a board meeting. He was handcuffed and taken to Savile Row police station for failing to pay parking tickets. On another occasion, his dispute with a church generated headlines because his restaurant signage with David Hicks's stylized PEEH fork pointing toward the church drew disapproval from church elders.

• Sandbrook, Dominic Never Had It So Good: 1956–63 v1 A History of Britain from Suez to the Beatles Abacus ISBN 978-0-349-11530-6. 5 May 2005
• Sandbrook, Dominic White Heat: A History of Britain in the Swinging Sixties Abacus ISBN 978-0-349-11820-8. 3 August 2006
• Newell, Malcolm Mood and Atmosphere in Restaurants 1965 Barrie and Rockliff (Barrie Books Ltd), London WC2
• Evans, Peter The Anti-Bull Cook-Book With drawings by William Rushton pub Anthony Blond 1964 (pre-ISBN)
• Evans, Peter The Stag Cook Book' A low guide to the high art of nosh With drawings by William Rushton pub New English Library A Four Square Book 1967
• Evans, Peter Megadeath pub New English Library 1976
• Barr, Ann and York, Peter The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook Ebury Press 1982 ISBN 0-85223-236-5
• Lewis, Julie Editor of Unlimited Scope Hargreen Publishing Company 1983 ISBN 0-949905-13-5
• Thompson, Douglas The Hustlers Pan Books 2008 ISBN 978-0-330-44951-9
• Evans, Peter (Zachariah) and G Theresa Wintour. Guide to Village Riches. Saturday Richmond, 1990. ISBN 1-872804-03-9