The History
The Eagle was founded in 1991 by restaurant manager Michael Belben, and chef David Eyre, who wanted a restaurant but couldn’t afford it. Luckily for them at the same time the government had decided that brewers had established a monopoly of pub ownership that gave the general public a bad deal. It did. The beer was expensive, poorly sourced wine was an afterthought and the food was rubbish!
The time was ripe for a casual, good value approach to dining using top quality ingredients that until then could only be found in expensive restaurants.‘Big Flavours and Rough Edges’ was the title of the cookbook. It summed it up, The Gastropub was born.
The Eagle celebrated its 30th Birthday in January 2021.
Edward Mottershaw - Head Chef at The Eagle Farringdon since 2004
The Chefs
Since opening in 1991, only three head chefs have run The Eagle kitchen. Founder David Eyre, Tom Norrington Davies and present incumbent Edward Mottershaw. With only room for two chefs a shift, everyone gets to influence the menu, and many move on to open their own places.