Quintessentially British Spots

We have three excellent addresses for you. Pin them on your map, add them to your bucket list!

In cities with legacy, like London, the best addresses are hidden and very well kept secrets. These places are timeless, proud of being part of the history of city, unique and irreplaceable.

Mylittlebutler is happy to present three of them to you today. A Pub, a Bar and a Restaurant.

The Grenadier
A landmark in its own right, The Grenadier in Belgrave Square is royalty amongst London pubs. This historic treasure chest is not your usual insipid public house. The Grenadier reputation is as illustrious as it is mysterious.

The Grenadier Originally built in 1720 as the Officers Mess for The First Royal Regiment of Foot Guards, the Grenadier became a licensed premise in 1818 to serve as The Guardsman Public House; it was latter renamed The Grenadier.

This great old Knightsbridge Pub is like being transported into a village. Do not miss out this nice spot when you are around. It’s strongly recommended.

Barts Bar
You have to knock three times on the door to get in. Barts is a speakeasy cocktail bar set in the 1920s prohibition era, run by Chicago gangsters who have set up in London. If you know the password the door is open from 6pm ’til late every day.

Uncle Barts’ gangsters are operating their bootlegging activities from this hidden bar within one of the many apartments located on Sloane Avenue.

In order to avoid detection from the cops, this hidden speakeasy has been dressed up as the private apartment of the ever elusive proprietor ‘Barts’ – ‘Uncle Barts’ to those that know him best.

Rules Covent Garden
In the year Napoleon opened his campaign in Egypt, Thomas Rule promised his des-pairing family that he would say goodbye to his wayward past and settle down. No sooner said than he opened an oyster bar in Convent Garden. To the surprise and dis-belief of his family, his enterprise proved to be not only successful but lasting.
Contemporary writers were soon singing the praises of Rules’ “porter, pies and oysters”, and remarking on the “rakes, dandies and superior intelligence’s who comprise its clien-tele”.

Rules still flourishes, the oldest restaurant in London and one of the most celebrated in the world.

In over 200 years, spanning the reigns of nine monarchs, it has been owned by only three families . . . just before The Great War, Charles Rule, a descendant of the found-er, was thinking of moving to Paris; by sheer coincidence he met Tom Bell, a Briton who owned a Parisian restaurant called the Alhambra, and the two men decided to swap businesses. (During the war Tom Bell was an officer in the Royal Flying Corps, and left the running of the restaurant to Charlie, the Head Waiter, who had served Charles Rule for many years.)
In 1984 Tom Bell’s daughter sold Rules to John Mayhew, the present owner. Rules serves the traditional food of this country at its best – and at affordable prices. It special-ises in classic game cookery, oysters, pies and puddings.

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 – including Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray, John Galsworthy and H G Wells.The actors and actresses who have passed through Rules are legion. Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin and John Barry-more.

The past lives on at Rules and can be seen on the walls all around you – 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”.

Rules a heritage restaurant. There is a demand for the best in life as we are confronted with so much mediocrity. In an age when everyone is deluged with homogeneous brands, we like to create the special. There is a real unfulfilled need and desire to expe-rience it.

Cheers