BILLING LONDON'S MAYOR FOR OLYMPIC LOSS

Neleen Strauss, co-owner of one of London’s top restaurants, billed London's Mayor Boris Johnson for £90 000, being the cost of lost business during the Olympic Games. She claimed that turnover was down by 80 percent. Neleen, originally from Bloemfontein, said the city was basically dead as many workers took their annual leave during the Olympics or worked from home. The High Timber restaurant is on the banks of the Thames, close to the Millennium Bridge, and in the financial district. The restaurant is co-owned by Neleen and Gary and Kathy Jordan of Jordan Winery in Stellenbosch. It has one of the best cellars in London, holding more than 40,000 bottles. The restaurant is named High Timber because that is the ancient London street on which it is sited. Neleen, an expert sommelier, moved to the UK in 2001 to open a popular London City restaurant, Vivat Bacchus. She left there to launch High Timber in March 2009. Within one year of launch, the restaurant received a recommendation in both the 2010 Great Britain and Ireland Michelin Guide, and 2010 London Michelin Guide. Before leaving South Africa, she was General Manager at Browns of Rivonia, in Johannesburg. She went to Meisieskool Oranje and studied drama at the University of the Free State. While at university, she worked as a waitress, and after graduating she went to work at Browns.