Tea bags left in the cup, HP Sauce on the table, a smoky steam of fags and fry-ups hangs in the air against a backdrop of 1950s pop, chrome and leatherette. Kevin Finch's Sausage and Mash, aka S&M, is an arty slice of retro Damien Hirst would be proud of.
And the former Hartford Group chief executive should know because he's been there, done that. He was asked to join the group, which owns London restaurant Pharmacy, in 1999 after setting up his fine-dining Montana chain.
It wasn't a match made in heaven, according to Finch: "The plan changed. It became clear that we weren't going to open Montanas as planned but they wanted to do more with Pharmacy. It wasn't the time to spend £1m in a down market and I didn't want to open a whole chain of Pharmacies."
He left Hartford the following year, and while searching for a new project found something a lot closer to his heart - the British caf‚. An East End boy, Finch went into his past for inspiration and discovered a concept in need of a revival.
Affectionately termed the greasy spoon, this is the eating experience we grew up with in the 1960s and 1970s, and unceremoniously dumped for minimalism and posh nosh in the 1980s. But we never stopped loving it, Finch argues... we just couldn't admit it. It was the place we slunk to the morning after a heavy night before for fry-ups and comfort - we knew it was wrong but we couldn't help ourselves. Finch knows our secrets and is exploiting them shamelessly.
If the greasy spoon is the taboo, then Finch is every inch the therapist as we sit in S&M, Essex Road, once Alfredo's café run by the DeRitis family for 80 years, listening to The Who and admiring the Bakelite ceiling tiles. "This is a socially historic environment," he says. "Now it's OK to be British but we have never heralded the greasy spoon as the great British institution it was. It's time to celebrate our culture, celebrate Bakelite, leatherette and Formica. With S&M we don't have to be embarrassed any more."
S&M in Essex Road, north London, is a Grade II-listed building, lovingly restored to its former glory. The chrome and mirrored walls, blue Formica table-tops and black lino - most of which was sourced in Germany - plus a brand new kitchen, cost Finch £150,000, including labour. The designers are still looking for some authentic leatherette for the seats, but the only thing really lacking is the elderly matriarchal proprietor to run the place, and he's working on that.
It's the second in the group; the first in Portobello Road opened in 2001 on the site of an old café named S&M. The third opened in Brushfield Street, opposite Spitalfields market earlier this month. The building is renovated in accordance with the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, set in the middle of a parade of historic townhouses and decorated with flying ducks, yellowing film posters and net curtains. The fourth, in Acton, is due to open on 1 May.
Finch is prudent enough not to let authenticity stretch as far as the food. Sure, the café does full English breakfast, baked beans on toast and bacon sarnies, but there's also the neat row of Hermitage wine at £13.50 a bottle next to the HP Sauce bottles.
What you do get here is high class bangers at £6.95 for three, with mash and gravy. As well as daily gourmet selections chalked up on the blackboard, there's pork, Stilton and celery; lamb and mint, and chicken, asparagus and Parmesan cheese. Vegetarian choices include spicy Tunisian; spinach and Cheddar, and sun-dried tomato, basil and mozzarella. The mash comes in four types - from regular to smoked paprika, leek and Cheddar, and covered in a choice of red onion, wild mushroom with cream, wholegrain mustard with chilli, or veggie Napolitano tomato gravy.
Finch is not interested in developing his own brands, so he makes sure tomato ketchup is from Heinz, ice-cream is Wall's, custard is Bird's and corn flakes are by Kellogg's.
But this isn't just an exercise in nostalgia and kitsch. S&M is a community restaurant which is going beyond theme bar, Finch says. He's looking for sites in B locations with a high footfall, near secondary markets like Kilburn, Clapham, Stratford, Elephant & Castle and the East End.
"This is a restaurant for the community," he says. "The average spend is £7 and I'm staying out of high-rent areas. This is not a yuppie concept, and it's not some mockney place. It's all part of our culture and it's what we do. It's very non-class."
So is it love or money that's driving him? Finch may appear starry-eyed about his East End roots, but the former investment banker in him is making sure this project brings in the cash as well.
"I'm not a heritage warrior. I'm passionate about the conservation aspect but it's a business as well," he says. "There's no point pretending otherwise. It's going to be a multisite business across London, but eventually I'll go to Watford, Luton and Croydon. It's a simple concept and I'm filling up the economic gap. There's a growing sense of public reaction to high prices - there's no doubt about that - and people aren't tolerating rubbish any more. The pizza environment is in turmoil, so where is the growth going to come from? There has always got be something new and if this is done right and fits the market, it will work."
With 40 seats at Essex Road, 50 at Portobello Road and 80 at Brushfield Street, each restaurant is looking at taking around £8,000-£9,000 a week. Current turnover for S&M is £30,000 a week, and projected turnover for 2003 is £2.4m. Projected turnover for 2004 is £4m. Each site is doing about 150 covers on weekdays, and 300-400 at weekends, with about eight staff per unit. Finch is not looking to push up the average £7 a head spend - £15 with wine.
Sound business sense for difficult times, but that's when Finch's plan comes into play. As he says, he's done expensive and quick expansions and it didn't work out. Now he's taking it slowly. He doesn't want to end up with a theme chain that loses its authenticity.
Is this the trend of the future, then? Finch thinks it might be, in current times at least. "There's no doubt the economy and the war are having an impact on the industry," he says. "It will get worse before it gets better and I think that if all demographic groups are affected by the war, they might change their eating habits. We're cheap, and if you believe people will still eat out but trade down, then we will do better than some. It's comfort food and in hard times it fits."
Where to get a taste of S&M
S&M
Restaurants (all in London): Essex Road, N1; Brushfield Street, E1; 268 Portobello Road, W10; Acton High Street, W3 (opening 1 May)
Launched: 2001
Key investors: Kevin Finch, Catalyst and EIS Fund
Average opening times: 7.30am to 11pm, Mondays to Fridays
Average bill: £7 per person, £15 with wine
Covers: 150 weekdays, 300-400 at weekends
Staff: eight per unit
Current turnover: £30,000 a week
Projected turnover for 2003: £2.4m
Projected turnover for 2004: £4m