Meet The Team
We are incredibly proud of the Le Petit Citron team
and with good reason. Our reviews are brimming with
amazing comments about the warm and friendly
service customers receive in our little Hammersmith restaurant.
We are incredibly proud of the Le Petit Citron team and with good reason. Our reviews are brimming with amazing comments about the warm and friendly service customers receive in our little Hammersmith restaurant.
THE OWNERS
Emily & Lawrence Hartley
They have over 50 years experience between the two of them, having owned previously successful French Restaurants in SW London, Brula in St. Margaret’s & La Buvette in Richmond.
Emily also ran the catering at Strawberry Hill House and Lawrence having studied at West-minster Catering College, worked with Karen Jones and Roger Myers’s and helped launch Café Rouge, Hampstead, Highgate, Wimbledon, Putney & Kensington in the early 90’s and eventually went on to be Maitre D’ at the Ivy West Street.
Lawrence and Emily also have a large stake in Joe Allen’s in Covent Garden.
With Lawrence’s mother, aunt and extended relations, who are still living in the 17th arrondissement in Paris, French food and culture runs passionately through the family.
Their mission is to recreate real French food and wine in a Bistrot style setting across Londo
They opened Le Petit Citron in Brook Green, Hammersmith in 2016. The restaurant was inspired by their family holidays in Provence. Emily and Lawrence have recreated a classical French neighbourhood bistro, specialising in Provençal cooking and celebrating Provençal producers. Southern French inspired cocktails, soft drinks and a 100% French wine list complete the authentic theme.
Lawrence Hartley
CO-OWNER
A graduate of Westminster Catering College, Lawrence has had quite the journey to becoming co-owner of Le Petit Citron, with wife Emily.
After numerous jobs in chain and dodgy corner street restaurants, he landed a proper job at the Ivy, where he trained under Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, two of the world's greatest restaurateurs.
In 1999 he bought and opened a classic French bistro, Brula, in St. Margarets, with then business partner Bruce, and in 2003 they opened another French Bistro, La Buvette, in Richmond.
In 2012 Emily and Lawrence bought a large shareholding in Joe Allen Restaurant in Covent Garden, somewhere which has always been close to their hearts, and which still runs successfully to this day. One of London’s iconic theatre brasseries.
Emily Hartley
CO-OWNER
Born in 1979, Emily moved to London in 1994 to study at the Ballet Rambert, she met Lawrence whilst working at the local deli in St. Margarets, Twickenham. Having then worked in education for many years, Emily finally succumbed to the temptations of hospitality!
Emily is Lawrence’s life & business partner and they started working properly together when they took on the Cloister Coffee House and the catering at Strawberry Hill House in Twickenham. Emily then took over operations across the Coffee House, Strawberry Hill Catering and Brûla Restaurant with great success. In 2018 Lawrence and Emily launched their new restaurant Le Petit Citron in Brook Green and the rest is history!
Always smiling, welcoming and incredibly efficient, Emily is a passionate Francofile!
