In 1971, the Greater London Council planned to redevelop the Strand into a dual carriageway. Blocking the way was a longstanding property with a dining room that survived the Blitz and welcomed some of the UK’s biggest names. It has stood on Maiden Lane, all stained glass and oil paintings, since 1798.
In the face of the GLC development plans, the poet John Betjeman rose to London’s oldest restaurant, Rules. He praised its art and furnishings, but also highlighted something harder to replicate: its ‘invisible atmosphere’.
Fifty-five years on, that plea has been answered in full.
The £11m answer
John-Pierre Mayhew, who has owned 34-35 Maiden Lane for the past 40 years, has gifted the £11 million building which houses Rules to the National Trust. Mayhew’s donation also includes the restaurant’s archive: visitor books, menus, caricatures, photographs, stained glass and signs.
Diners are unlikely to notice any change. Rick McMenemy, who owns the restaurant business and has worked there for 35 years, will become a commercial tenant of the charity, with rent payments going towards the conservation of the building and its interiors.
A short history of Rules
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The 228-year-old dining room at Rules. Photography: PA Media
It’s a rare occurrence, amid the many London restaurants that have closed in recent months, to see an institution that boasts not just decades but centuries of history. When it first opened in 1798 as an oyster bar, this particular spot was known as a grubby, run-down corner of Covent Garden. But over the course of its 228 years (and counting), Rules has risen to celebrity status, hosting Charles Dickens, HG Wells, and King Edward VII (who is said to have met his mistress here).
In fact, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Laurence Olivier are all said to have treated Rules as an unofficial ‘green room’. Graham Greene – who dined here on every birthday – featured the restaurant in ‘The End of the Affair’. More recently, Rules featured in the Bond Film Spectre as well as Downton Abbey.
A new lease on life
Aside from outlasting empires and feeding the likes of Liza Minnelli, David Bowie, Harrison Ford and Madonna among others, Rules stands as a rare piece of living heritage. The building and its original purpose survive side by side, with the interiors very well preserved.
Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust, said: ‘This place is an outstanding piece of living history, with its corners where kings dined and writers and politicians plotted, and the traditions it kept alive through wars and upheaval. It has defied the odds to be standing here today, doors still open and treacle sponge still on the menu.
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John-Pierre Mayhew bought the property and restaurant in 1984 from the Bell family. Photography: PA Media
‘Mr Mayhew’s extraordinary generosity, and the care he has poured into Rules over many decades, mean this beloved place has a future measured not in years but generations.
‘His gift ensures that one of London’s great living institutions will remain part of the city’s cultural life, with all its stories, traditions and character intact.’
Mayhew said: ‘There are few restaurants in the world that have endured the test of time like Rules. ‘With many years of hard work, and some extraordinary strokes of luck, it has survived everything from redevelopment plans and changing tastes to the Blitz.
‘The Trust will protect this place in a way that no-one else could, safeguarding its bricks and mortar, its famous interior and its invisible atmosphere, too. I am grateful to them for believing in this idea and for protecting this building and two centuries’ worth of stories for people to enjoy forever.’
Rick McMenemy, the restaurant's proprietor, welcomes the donation to the National Trust: ‘As an independent business, it gives us both the security and peace of mind that our home will be in very good hands and be protected and secure going forward.’
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