Plaque

Rules Restaurant 2

Inscription

Rules®. London's oldest restaurant. In the year Napoleon opened his campaign in Egypt, 1798, Thomas Rule promised his despairing family that he would say goodbye to his wayward past, settle down and open an oyster bar in Covent Garden.
Rules serves the traditional food of this country at its best - it specialises in classic game cookery and is fortunate in owning an estate in the High Pennines "England's last wilderness" which supplies game for the restaurant and where it is able to exercise its own quality controls and determine how the game is treated.
Throughout its long history the tables of Rules have been crowded with writers, artists, lawyers, journalists and actors. As well as being frequented by great literary talents - Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, John Galsworthy & H G Wells, Rules has also appeared in novels by Rosamond Lehmann, Evelyn Waugh, Graham Greene, John Le Carré, Dick Francis and Claire Rayner.
 On the first floor, by the lattice window, was once the most celebrated "table for two" in London. This was the Prince of Wales' favourite spot for wining and dining the beautiful actress Lillie Langtry.
The past lives on and is captured in literally hundreds of drawings, paintings and cartoons. The late John Betjeman then poet laureate described the ground floor interior as "unique and irreplaceable and part of literary and theatrical London". In all its 200 years, spanning the reigns of nine monarchs and entering its 4th century it has been owned by only 3 families.

Site: Rules Restaurant (2 memorials)

WC2, Maiden Lane, 35

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Rules Restaurant 2

Subjects commemorated i

Sir John Betjeman

Poet Laureate 1972 - 1984. Conservation campaigner. Credited with saving the ...

Read More

Napoleon Bonaparte

Military and political leader. Born at Ajaccio, Corsica. He trained as an off...

Read More

Charles Dickens

Born, son of Elizabeth and John Dickens, at No.1 Mile End Terrace, Landport, ...

Read More

King Edward VII

Reigned: 1901 - 1910. Born and died at Buckingham Palace. Victoria's eldest s...

Read More

Dick Francis

Steeplechase jockey and writer. Born Richard Stanley Francis in Coedcanlas, W...

Read More

Show all 15

This section lists the other memorials at the same location as the memorial on this page:
Rules Restaurant 2

Also at this site i

Rules Restaurant 1

Rules Restaurant 1

The English Heritage listing does indeed say "Benjamin  Rule" but we are assu...

Read More

Nearby Memorials

Ellen and William Craft - blue plaque

Ellen and William Craft - blue plaque

W6, Cambridge Grove, 26

The Crafts have another plaque in this road but English Heritage are clear that this (number 26) is the house in which the Crafts settled...

2 subjects commemorated, 1 creator
George Neighbour

George Neighbour

SW11, Lavender Hill, Battersea Arts Centre

This building was the Battersea Town Hall 1893 - 1965, and became the Battersea Arts Centre in 1974. Suffered a bad fire in 2015. The Pl...

2 subjects commemorated
The Wesleys

The Wesleys

WC2, West Street, 24

We think "WMHS" might stand for "World Methodist History Society".

2 subjects commemorated
Sir Alec Guinness - W9

Sir Alec Guinness - W9

W9, Lauderdale Road, 155 Lauderdale Mansions

Sir Alec Guinness C.B.E., 1914 - 2000, actor, was born here. The Heritage Foundation

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Stratford Co-operative and Industrial Society

Stratford Co-operative and Industrial Society

E3, Bow Road

And they say that no one ever put up a plaque to a committee! Ornamental Passions points out the flowers and the rustic fence.

14 subjects commemorated

Previously viewed

Frederick George Baker

Frederick George Baker

Chairman, Highways and Public Works Committee

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
War Memorial at St Anne's Soho

War Memorial at St Anne's Soho

W1, Wardour Street, St Anne's Soho

We note that the name John B. Freeman appears twice. Whilst this is probably a mistake on the part of the memorial creators we cannot ass...

War dead | WW1, WW2
85 subjects commemorated
J. Crowther

J. Crowther

Overseer of St Mary Whitechapel parish 1884.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Old Slaughters Coffee House

Old Slaughters Coffee House

At 74 - 75 St Martin's Lane.  Mentioned in Thackeray's "Vanity Fair". 

Place, Commerce

1 memorial