Two of London’s most popular venues are partnering up to bring a long-empty Mayfair boozer back to life. The teams from The Devonshire in Soho and Crisp Pizza at The Chancellors in Hammersmith are uniting at The Marlborough (formerly the Marlborough Head), an old-school corner pub just off Oxford Street that’s been closed since 2020.
“We’d had our eyes on The Marlborough for a while,” The Devonshire’s landlord, Oisín Rogers, tells Broadsheet. “[It has] beautiful old bones and an incredible location, but it had been sitting empty for too long. When we saw the opportunity to take it on, we moved fast. We all stood inside and knew straightaway it could be brilliant – it just needed a bit of love and attention. And some very good beer.”
The pub will bring together the best of Crisp and The Devonshire. Downstairs, an atmospheric pizzeria will serve Crisp chef-owner Carl McCluskey’s signature crisp-bottomed pizzas. And, on the ground floor, Rogers and the rest of the Devonshire team – Flat Iron founder Charlie Carroll and chef Ashley Palmer-Watts (The Fat Duck) – will oversee a drinks menu of Guinness, lager and cask ale “poured right and served fast”, according to Rogers. The pub decor will be classic, with woodwork and warm lighting.
Rogers says the new boozer is an opportunity to bring McCluskey’s pizza – which has people queuing outside The Chancellors, the Hammersmith pub he inherited from his nan – to a broader audience, while also filling a gap in the area. “The thing is, there aren’t many pubs doing it right round [Mayfair],” says Rogers, who reckons the rich earthiness of Crisp’s Funghi Pie is the perfect foil for a Guinness. “We saw a chance to bring back a proper boozer to an area that’s full of people but short on places that feel genuinely welcoming.”
McCluskey is closing Crisp in its current form in Hammersmith – though he hints it will make a comeback at some point. “It’s going to be hard to step away from the pub. I was born here, and it’s been such a huge part of my life,” he says. “Fingers crossed we’ll be back before too long. This is just a little break for now.”
The Marlborough will open in autumn at 24 North Audley Street, W1K 6WD.
