TV chef Simon Rimmer has spoken about the closure of his iconic vegetarian restaurant Greens, admitting he "should have closed a year earlier" but could not let go of his "first love". The Sunday Brunch host announced the closure of the original Greens site in Didsbury after 32 years in business in January 2024.
He and business partner Simon Connolly continued with their second Greens site in Sale, but that too closed for good just eight months later. Rimmer has admitted he is still "grieving the loss" of Greens, and cannot bear to look at the original Didsbury site, which has since reopened as a new restaurant, when he drives past.
'I made the wrong decision'
Speaking on the new podcast series Think Deepa Live, Rimmer admitted he made "wrong decisions" about the closure. He told host Deepa Parekh: "I've made loads of mistakes in business, I've nearly gone bankrupt twice, but you look back and go, the inner ignorance almost takes over the inner doubts."
He continued: "Greens that I'd had for 35 years we had to close that four years ago now. With hindsight, we probably should have closed a year earlier. I don't regret doing that, but I think I made the wrong decision. I was in love with Greens from the day that we opened it, it was my first love, my first child whatever you want to call it, and I didn't want that to end, I didn't want that to not be a part of my life."
"So that last 12 months... again it's money, I'm not remotely suggesting money isn't important because it really, really is, but all that happened is, my decision cost me a load of money. I was in a fortunate position that I could afford to lose that money. But it was the wrong decision, I should have done it 12 months earlier, definitely."
'A sense of relief'
When asked if he considered the closure of Greens a failure, Rimmer said: "If it had happened even ten years ago I would have seen it as a personal failure, I think that's about growth and experience. But I think I'm very fortunate that I don't have all my eggs in one basket, there are lots of different things in my life that excite me, so yes it was tough, but there was also the sense of relief when it happened because there was an inevitability there, that it would have to happen."
"Because I had other things exciting me and moving me forward I was able to cope with it. But it still hurts, there's a level of grieving. I didn't ever see it as a failure, because we managed it for 35 years and that's an achievement for any restaurant."
He added: "But it was hard, and it's still hard, I still can't look at it when I go past now. Porta [the restaurant that took over the Greens site in Didsbury] is a great business and they're really lovely guys I don't feel any animosity to them and I think it's brilliant, I wish them every success. But I can't even look when I go past."
Upcoming projects
Rimmer, 63, also spoke on the podcast about upcoming projects, saying: "One is hospitality based, one is a collab with a brand, and I'm writing a fiction book, I've just finished the second edit. This is my first fiction book so that's exciting."
He added: "I generally think that I'm a blagger. I'll turn my hand to anything, I'm very dogged and determined. I still think I have a very childlike excitement in anything I do."
He also shared how he uses ironing as a way to relax at home. He laughed: "The other thing I do is ironing, I really like it. I quite like a pile of ironing, I hate creased clothes, I think there's something about how my mind works, there's something really nice about ironing it and hanging it up. It's what shuts me down a bit."
He also shared his dream of one day opening a pub, saying: "I'm living in fantasy world now, if you took out financial restraints, I'd go back to having a pub." The full Think Deepa podcast with Simon Rimmer is available on YouTube.
