Peter Evans (restaurateur)

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. Please remove or replace such wording and instead of making proclamations about a subject's importance, use facts and attribution to demonstrate that importance. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article contains promotional content. Please help improve it by removing promotional language and inappropriate external links, and by adding encyclopedic text written from a neutral point of view. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. Find sources: "Peter Evans" restaurateur – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Peter Evans" restaurateur – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Peter Evans (28 December 1926 – 19 July 2014 in Frinton-on-Sea)^[1][2] was a restaurateur. Journalist Linda Blandford, writing in The Observer on 9 March 1975,^[3] described him as a pioneer of youth culture, opening one of Soho's first coffee bars called The Cat's Whisker. It became a popular spot where Tommy Steele performed. Evans also recognized the growing trend of dining out and established a chain of Aberdeen Angus Steak Houses^[4][5] and the Peter Evans Eating Houses, which were decorated by David Nightingale Hicks.^[6]

Evans initially started the Cat's Whisker coffee bar with Spanish dancing, but it soon transformed into a venue for skiffle and rock 'n roll. Due to limited space for dancing, the bar innovated hand-jiving.[1]

Later, Peter collaborated with two other young creatives: David Hicks^[7] and architect Patrick Garnett of Garnett Cloughley and Blakemore.^[8] According to Malcolm Newell in his book "Mood and Atmosphere in Restaurants," they established the iconic decorative style that epitomized London during the Swinging Sixties, providing vibrant and trendy dining and dancing experiences for the affluent. The era witnessed a flourishing of fashion trends, including the influence of Twiggy, Biba, Mary Quant, Teddy Boys, Cecil Gee, John Stephen, and Carnaby Street.^[9] In 1965, Evans was recognized as the "Beau Brummell" Best Dressed Man by the Clothing Manufacturers' Federation.

In 1967, Evans launched the exclusive members-only Raffles nightclub on King's Road in Chelsea. Hicks's original design lasted until 2007 when new owners gave it a complete makeover.[2] The club attracted notable figures of the Sixties, including Princess Margaret,[3] Princess Anne, and Prince Charles. In more recent times, the younger generation of royals, including Prince William during his courtship of Kate Middleton^[10] and Prince Harry while pursuing Chelsy Davy, have also frequented the club.^[11]

Additionally, Hicks designed sets for Richard Lester's 1968 movie Petulia, starring Julie Christie, while Garnett's Chelsea Drugstore achieved fame in Stanley Kubrick's 1971 film A Clockwork Orange.