A record 100 restaurants open in London just as the crunch bites

The launches of nearly 100 restaurants have been recorded in the past three months, if outlets at the Westfield shopping mall are included.

Even if these are stripped out, at least 39 restaurants opened in the run-up to Christmas, according to the Hardens guide to eating out.

However, there are growing fears about how many will survive next year and beyond as the recession takes a hold on London's economy.

The new destinations include Gordon Ramsay protégée Angela Hartnett's highly-acclaimed Murano, the J Sheekey Oyster Bar in the West End and Soho's Art-Deco brasserie Bob Bob Ricard.

Richard Harden, co-editor of the guide, said the rate of openings in the last quarter of the year was the fastest on record.

He said: "If you look at the list most are solidly middle to upper-middle market. There are very few really cheapskate places on it. The reason is obvious.

"Restaurants take 12 to 24 months to plan so the places that are opening now originated in 2007 well before things dropped off a cliff."

Industry experts believe the latest wave of openings will mark the final spasm of the restaurant boom that has transformed London's reputation as a gastro-capital.

In the last Restaurant Magazine Guide to the world's best 50 restaurants, five were in London.

But there are already signs that London is over-catered for expensive places to eat out, according to Mr Harden.

While even during the good times around half of openings do not survive, the failures are usually quickly replaced, he said.

"What we will almost certainly see in the first quarter of 2009 is restaurant premises lying dark.

"And that hasn't happened in London since the early Nineties. I really think January and February are going to be appalling.

"All the capacity of the 15-year bull market will be topped up by this coup de grâce of extra openings at a time when nobody's got any money.

"It is very difficult to see all these restaurants keeping going."

He said there were already ominous signs of the wave of closures to come.

Nobu spin-off Ubon in Canary Wharf closed in September, while two long standing west London landmarks, The Brackenbury and Snows On The Green have shut in recent weeks.

In Mayfair the site of the closed Italian restaurant Diverson remains boarded up. Meanwhile, other restaurant ventures are being quietly shelved.

Although the number of openings in the New Year is expected to be dramatically down, there will be a handful of eye-catching launches.

Ramsay has identified an as yet unannounced site in Knightsbridge for his Petrus outlet, but there are very few others in the pipeline.

With City bonuses expected to be down by up to three quarters this year and businesses desperately cutting back on costs, the era of extravagance appears well and truly over.

Many restaurant-goers are selecting cheaper options on the wine list, where often the fattest profit margins are made.

Even Gordon Ramsay has taken a painful hit on private dining bookings. But outside the centre of London, many more modestly priced restaurants appear to be doing good business.

The new Kingston branch of Jamie Oliver restaurant chain, Jamie's Italian, still has customers queuing round the block. According to Mr Harden the new blast of cold air could be good for London's restaurant scene in the longer run.

He said: "Hopefully it will drum out the dross. It will make restaurants get back to basics and stop the absurd spending on interiors. It will be a force for good."