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

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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 ...

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Napoleon Bonaparte

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

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Charles Dickens

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

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King Edward VII

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

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Dick Francis

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

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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...

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Sir Arthur Keith

Sir Arthur Keith

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Sir Arthur Keith, 1866 - 1955, distinguished physiologist and anthropologist, lived here, 1908 - 1933. London Borough of Islington Histor...

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Ralph Vaughan Williams - Bust

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Bust

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Unveiled by John Gilhooly, Artistic and Executive Director of Wigmore Hall and Chairman of the Royal Philharmonic Society.

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Katherine Mackay Low

Katherine Mackay Low

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These two plaques tell a complex story which we only fully understood once we found this UCL paper.  Erskine Clarke, vicar of St Mary's C...

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Bartlett Surgeon Accoucheur

Bartlett Surgeon Accoucheur

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Bartlett Surgeon Accoucheur {French for obstetrician surgeon}

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Sir Segrave

Sir Segrave

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English Heritage Sir Henry Segrave, 1896 - 1930, world speed record holder, lived here in flat No.6, 1917 - 1920.

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Old Slaughters Coffee House

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Second Lieutenant Arthur (Alfred) James Terence Fleming-Sandes, VC

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