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Pimlico Green is an unlikely Mecca for chocolate lovers.
But as Britain's top chocolatier William Curley opens his first central London shop there - joining gourmet confectioners The Chocolate Society, L'Artisan du Chocolat and Rococo in King's Road - the area has become a hotbed of sweet sophistication.
Mr Curley, named Best British Chocolatier for the past three years, said: "London is the most exciting place to be as a chocolatier. It has the fastest growing gourmet market in the world.
"We're a nation of chocolate lovers who have grown up on mass-produced confectionary and want more sophistication. Pimlico Green has become the flag for that, a chocolate Mecca."
Mr Curley, 38, from East Fife, trained under Michelin-starred chefs Pierre Koffmann, Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc, and opened his first chocolaterie and patisserie in Richmond five years ago. Selling bite-sized "couture" chocolates with flavours such as thyme, honey, apricot and wasabi, he often has queues out the door at weekends.
He opened the shop in Ebury Street with his wife Suzue on Saturday. Funded by financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, it includes a café bar offering a "Michelin-star quality" three-course dessert for £15. "People still need treats and quality chocolate is cheaper than a meal out," he said.
