The Yard, London: ‘unappealing, overpriced’ – restaurant review

On the site of the old Scotland Yard building, some of the prices feel like daylight robbery

The Yard by Robin Gill, 3-5 Great Scotland Yard, London SW1A 2HN (020 7925 4749). Starters £14-£16, mains £26-£30, desserts £9.50, wines from £38

Dangling on a chain from the waitress’s outfits at the Yard by Robin Gill, the restaurant tucked inside the new Great Scotland Yard Hotel just off London’s Whitehall, is a knuckle-duster. We ask to weigh one in our hand. It’s the real thing: a solid piece of brass designed for rupturing skin and fracturing bone in a moment of ultra-violence. It’s a nasty weapon repurposed as an oh-so-witty fashion accessory. I suggest you consider that a symbol for everything that’s wrong about this unappealing, ill-conceived and graspingly overpriced catering operation.