Rules restaurant in Covent Garden, London’s oldest restaurant, has been donated to the National Trust in a move intended to secure its future and prevent the historic building from being sold on.
The £11 million property in Maiden Lane will continue operating as before, with Ricky McMenemy, the existing owner of the catering business, becoming a commercial tenant of the Trust.
Rules was founded in 1798 and has passed through the hands of only four families during its 228-year history. Its richly decorated interior, with wood panelling, red velvet and brass fittings, has provided a setting for royal dinners, literary encounters, celebrity gatherings and film productions.
The restaurant was acquired by Jean Pierre Mayhew, 78, in 1984. After more than four decades as its owner, he has now given the building to the National Trust.
Hilary McGrady, the Trust’s director general, described Rules as “an outstanding piece of living history”, adding that its rooms had been places “where kings dined and writers and politicians plotted”.
“It has defied the odds to be standing here today, doors still open and treacle sponge still on the menu,” she said.
She added that Mr Mayhew’s “extraordinary generosity” and the care he had given the restaurant meant it had a future “measured not in years but generations”.
A restaurant of royal and literary associations
Among Rules’ former patrons was King Edward VII, who dined there with the actress Lillie Langtry. A curtain was installed to give the pair privacy.
Edward, who reigned from 1901 until his death in 1910, was married to Princess Alexandra of Denmark and had six children. He was also romantically linked with Lady Randolph Churchill, actress Sarah Bernhardt, singer Hortense Schneider and socialite Alice Keppel, the great-grandmother of Queen Camilla.
The restaurant’s literary associations include Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, HG Wells, Evelyn Waugh and John le Carré. It was also central to the story of Graham Greene’s 1951 novel The End of the Affair, in which the narrator asks: “Is it possible to fall in love over a dish of onions?”
The novel was later adapted into films starring Deborah Kerr and Van Johnson in 1955, and Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore in 1999.
Rules has also been described as an unofficial “green room” for the entertainment industry, with actors including Henry Irving, Laurence Olivier, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin among those associated with the venue.
Other famous visitors have included the Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, who moved his management agency NEMS to a nearby office in Covent Garden, and David Bowie, who accepted an award at the restaurant in 1973 after six of his albums appeared in the charts that year.
James Bond actors Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan have dined there, while the restaurant has appeared in the film Spectre and in the television and film drama Downton Abbey.
More recent visitors pictured at Rules include former I’m A Celebrity winner Joe Swash and Star Trek actor George Takei. Hollywood actress Carol Channing was photographed there with musician and impresario Jack Hylton.
Rules survived a threat of demolition
The restaurant’s survival was not always assured. In 1971, the Greater London Council planned to demolish Rules along with the nearby historic Covent Garden market, while the Strand was earmarked to become a dual carriageway.
A campaign involving the poet and Rules diner Sir John Betjeman helped prevent the plans. Speaking at a planning meeting, he said the restaurant had acquired an atmosphere through its constant use by actors, managers and famous people.
“We can sense it and it will not photograph,” he said.
Rules was opened by Thomas Rule, whose family remained its owners until the end of the First World War. It initially specialised in oysters, which remain on the menu at £5.75 each.
The restaurant has 90 staff and accommodation for 90 diners. Its menu includes steak and kidney pie at £26.25, apple and sultana crumble with custard at £11.50, and Stilton cheese and biscuits at £13.95.
During the Second World War, Rules remained open, serving rationed meals at five shillings while continuing to offer dishes including rabbit, grouse and pheasant.
Its royal associations have also been reflected in the drinks menu. The Royal 29 cocktail was introduced to mark the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29, 2011, and includes rose petals, crystallised violets, citrus juice, gin, Lillet, pink vodka and a Maraschino cherry.
The venue also hosted a champagne-fuelled fashion launch in May 1987 attended by the 3rd Lord Glenconner, who took part as a male model, and his son Henry Tennant.
Under the new arrangement, the restaurant will remain open and continue its trading history while the National Trust safeguards the building for the future.
