The Octaves closure, let’s talk about it.

 

I’m going to start by saying my blog hasn’t seen me in weeks – ironically - because I’ve been swamped arranging the reopening of my restaurant, Octaves, which has been closed since May 2025.

The reopening requires a level of locking in and due diligence you’ll never be able to imagine (unless it’s something you’ve done yourself before). Staff contracts, staff rotas, stock lists, stock runs, compliance, cleaning, admin, social media, web design, menu design… and that’s before I’ve even cooked a damn thing.

Last year I closed the restaurant because God told me to be still. I didn’t know why that was His message, but I knew I shouldn’t act on anything until September 2025. In the last week of September 2025, a lot of things happened that made it all make sense.

The restaurant was open from January 2025 to May 2025 because I was convinced by friends and family not to close it.

“What about the young people and their jobs?”
“You’re providing a disservice to your regulars.”

“Restaurants take 5 years to build, you just have to keep going”
“You’re setting back your legacy.”

Those were some of the things I was told that encouraged me to keep it open. Of course, that was followed by, “I’ll help - I’ll do stock runs, provide childcare when you need it, etc.”

My trip to Ghana in April, followed by my trip to St Lucia in May, made me realise something very clearly: regardless of the helping hands being offered, the success (or lack of success) of that restaurant lies in my hands. And my hands alone. There is no rest. There is no respite. If something goes wrong, the buck ends with you. You don’t have a business partner. There is no one you can call.

Not many people know this, but the restaurant was born from a conversation between myself and Ed Sheeran at Jamal Edwards’ funeral. We both decided that we were going to fast-track our dreams because life is too short. It made so much sense at the time, just going for it, doing my big one, and opening in Stoke Newington. I’m glad that I did it. I’m glad I was brave. I’m glad I chased my dream. I’m glad I tasted my future. 

Because ultimately, when all is said and done - when I’m no longer a broadcaster/DJ and I’m sick of the entertainment industry shit, I’m going to want something to do in my old age, and Octaves is absolutely going to be that thing.

Doing it the past three years has given me the 10,000 hours of practice I needed in order to do it successfully later.

The reality right now, though, is that having a sit-down restaurant with 10+ members of staff, 50 covers, and a site so far from where I live in South London is not aligned for me. And the responsibility of it, at its current scale, is just not something I can do right now.

I need a much smaller site. A takeaway only. In order to balance being Sian Anderson - DJ, broadcaster, author, music manager, mother, and restaurant owner.

My ex once said to me, “Sian, when you’re not happy, nothing happens.”

At first, I took it as a sly dig. Like a negative critique. But actually… it’s just the truth.

In order for me to turn on the microphone twice a week and make the nation happy, I need to be happy first. In order for me to be a good mum, friend, girlfriend, and manage 10+ people and a sit down restaurant, I need to be happy first.

Of course nothing happens when I’m not happy  - when I’m the pinnacle of everybody else’s happiness.

Whether that was a choice I made or something God assigned to me doesn’t really matter at this point. What matters is that I’m very aware the happiness of everything around me relies on my happiness.

And I was not happy.

Happiness for me is alignment. I’ve known that about myself from the very beginning.

If things don’t feel aligned, I want out. I’ll run far away. I’ll sit still and separate myself from everyone and everything that isn’t aligned. And nothing will happen outside of the basic things that need too.

Life can sometimes feel like a checklist. In a job, that can look like:

• Does this job pay me well?
• Are my working hours what I want them to be?
• Do I like and get on with my colleagues?
• Do I get enough annual leave?

All of those answers could be “yes”, but the real question is: do I feel happy, comfortable, and aligned doing this?

The answer can still be no.

And then comes the battle. Do you stay because it works for everybody else? Because it feels safe and familiar? Even though it doesn’t sit right with you?

Let me put it in relationship terms - for Plantain Twitter.

You can meet someone who ticks all the right boxes on paper. They’re pretty, caring, considerate, nice, they have a good job, are a good parent. And while all of that can be true, you still might not feel aligned with them. They might not excite you. They might not be a visionary. They might be so comfortable existing in their current season, that they can’t (and don’t want to) see what life looks like in a new season. You can try to have conversations, to motivate them, to outline the future you want, and they can say the right things, but deep down, you know they’re comfortable where they are. And if you don’t make a change, you’ll stay there with them.

You are not your old decisions. You are not bound by choices you made in your teens, twenties, or even your thirties. You’re allowed to move on. You’re allowed to move forward.

With Octaves, I’m making a choice. I’m moving forward. 

It’s not the right season for a restaurant on that scale. Yes, I could keep it for everybody else. I get it. It’s lit. It’s familiar. It provides jobs, meals for regulars, cooking classes for kids - the whole shebang. It does everything it’s supposed to do for everyone else… And absolutely nothing for me.

For me, it means staying in my old season, which for the past three years has meant me killing myself trying to juggle being a mum, a broadcaster, a DJ, a chef, an owner, a cleaner, a bartender, being absolutely-fucking-everything-to-everybody-but-me.

So I’ve made a choice. To centre myself. To centre my health, Which (as you know if you read my posts) has been rocky. And to centre my happiness. To be aligned.

Yes, that will cause unrest for a period of time. But unrest happens when you’re moving into new seasons. That’s just life.

Ultimately, the closure of the Octaves Stoke Newington site isn’t a bad thing. And when it reopens - in a new format, in a new space - you’ll know it’s aligned.

And that is important. 

So ye, gwan guh fill up yuh belly while it’s still open at the Stokey site. 

Love <3