Empire tales

I'm not sure what Auden, Durrell and Graves would have made of it. The George, W1, perhaps the most famous of old-school BBC watering holes, is set to be a gastropub.

The Sethi family - Jyotin, 38, Karam, 34 and Sunaina, 30 - are set to take a long-lease on the refurbished shell and core. There'll be a first floor restaurant, but the bar on the ground floor should be fairly glitzy, judging by their operation at the Bloomberg Arcade. There, in Brigadiers ("inspired by the army mess bars of India") is Blighters, with booths and sports screens around a central bar. If it's dark enough, the Beeboids will love it.