JP Mayhew, who bought the Covent Garden institution in 1984, has gifted Europe’s largest conservation charity the freehold of 34-35 Maiden Lane, alongside its storied art collection, in a donation valued at £11 million.
Rules will carry on as an independent restaurant, and proprietor Ricky McMenemy, who has worked there for 35 years, will continue to run it as a tenant. The rent from the business will reportedly help fund conservation work.
“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,” McMenemy said in a statement. “Having already established a very amicable working relationship with the Trust, we look forward to another two centuries in this, our home.”
Founded by Thomas Rule as an oyster house in 1798, over the last 228 years the restaurant has hosted the likes of Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, Laurence Olivier and Charlie Chaplin. Today, it serves as a time capsule, its walls crowded with historic paintings, drawings and cartoons. Meanwhile, its kitchen still dishes up retro British cuisine with a menu revolving around game, oysters, pies and many, many carbs. The current offering, which rarely changes, includes potted shrimp, steak and kidney pudding and sticky toffee pudding.
“There are few restaurants in the world that have endured the test of time like Rules,” Mayhew said. “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 donation covers visitor books, menus, caricatures, photographs, stained glass and signs, preserving the traces of the people who have eaten, drunk and held court there over more than two centuries.
Unsurprisingly, it's not the first time the restaurant has made headlines. In 1971, poet John Betjeman famously spoke in its defence when redevelopment plans threatened its future. “When John Betjeman defended Rules from the GLC’s plans to turn the Strand into a dual carriageway in 1971, he spoke not only of the paintings, sculptures, stained glass and red plush seats, but of its ‘invisible atmosphere’,” Mayhew said.
“My gift to the National Trust is in answer to that appeal. 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.”
The National Trust already owns 39 historic pubs, including the George Inn in Southwark, but the spot on Maiden Lane is the first building in its care to house a historic restaurant that’s still operating.
“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,” said Hilary McGrady, director-general of the National Trust.
“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.”
Rules
34–35 Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, WC2E 7LB
Hours:
Mon to Thu midday–10pm
Fri & Sat midday-11pm
