Few locations have hosted Charles Dickens, James Bond and Madonna.
But London’s oldest restaurant, Rules, has – and it looks set to be enjoyed by many future celebrities, and anyone else who can afford it, after being donated to the National Trust.
Established in 1798, when Napoleon was still a rising star, it has been serving traditional English fare ever since, in the ownership of just four families, under two queens and eight kings.
One of those kings, Edward VII, dined here with his actress lover Lillie Langtry, a curtain specially installed to maintain their privacy.
It is the latest owner, Jean Pierre Mayhew, 78, who has decided after 40 years to give the £11million building housing the restaurant – between Covent Garden and The Strand – to the Trust.
Rules, with its panelling, red velvet and brass, will operate as before, under existing owner of the catering business Ricky McMenemy, who will become a commercial Trust tenant.
Founded in 1798, Rules has been serving traditional English fare, in the ownership of just four families, under two queens and eight kings
London’s oldest restaurant, which hosted Edward VII with his actress lover Lillie Langtry, is being donated to the National Trust
Favourites enjoyed since Rules was opened by Thomas Rule – whose family remained owners until the end of the First World War – will still be served.
In the beginning, the restaurant focused on oysters.
They are still on the menu, albeit at £5.75 each.
Other classics which may have been enjoyed by Victorian novelist Dickens, or silent-film giant Charlie Chaplin, include steak and kidney pie, now £26.25, with chips, mash or dauphinoise potatoes £6.95 extra.
The puddings and cheese menu features an apple and sultana crumble with custard for £11.50, and stilton cheese and biscuits, £13.95
Director General of the National Trust Hilary McGrady thanked donor Mr Mayhew yesterday, saying: ‘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.
The outside of Rules, which originally focused on oysters and still serves the seafood at £5.75 each
Charles Dickens dined at Rules as well as other famous faces, including Madonna and James Bond actors Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan
‘It has defied the odds to be standing here today, doors still open and treacle sponge still on the menu.
‘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.’
Aside from Adolf Hitler’s Blitz, Rules was previously threatened with destruction by the Greater London Council in 1971 – set to be razed to the ground along with nearby historic market Covent Garden, while The Strand was to become a dual carriageway.
Only a campaign involving Rules diner and poet Sir John Betjeman helped stop the unwanted ‘progress’.
Sir John said at a planning meeting: ‘A place constantly used by actors, managers and famous people, as Rules has, acquires an invisible atmosphere, just as a church frequented by praying people acquires an atmosphere. We can sense it and it will not photograph.’
Another writer enjoying the inefficiency of photography at Rules was novelist Graham Greene – who used it as a rendezvous to meet his own real-life lover, plus in The End Of The Affair, 1951, with his protagonist Maurice Bendrix dining there with illicit partner Sarah Miles.
‘Is it possible to fall in love over a dish of onions?’ wonders the character. ‘It seems improbable and yet I could swear it was just then that I fell in love.’
Others to have believed Rules knows its onions include William Makepeace Thackeray, HG Wells, Evelyn Waugh, John Le Carre and agony aunt Claire Rayner. James Bond actors Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have too – with the restaurant itself appearing in Bond film Spectre.
Countless political patrons included a late Labour deputy prime minister. Until he stormed off in a huff.
Ongoing restaurateur Mr McMenemy has recalled: ‘John Prescott used to be a regular - but he stopped coming, probably because I called him Ken Clarke.’