. It makes the story come alive and I can dream of going there one day. 34-35 Maiden Ln, London WC2E 7LB, UK. Rules gives credence to a particular slice of British nostalgia: that of the upper classes, the richest family dynasties, country houses linked by a chug of Rolls Royces. (Heaven knows how many puns have been nixed by heaven knows how many copy-editors since Rules was first reviewed in print — Google one up immediately at that bastion of subtlety, The Daily Mail, although there must be more.) You can unsubscribe at any time. A Heyer Moive and a (new to me) Heyer Short Story, Sweep & Specificity - Lynn Nottage's Sweat, Dinner at Rules after the opera at Covent Garden. The interior is as brilliantly brash as anyone could hope for — garlanded in red and gold, a Margaret Thatcher illustration here, a nude Britannia there. RULES RESTAURANT LIMITED - Free company information from Companies House including registered office address, filing history, accounts, annual return, officers, charges, business activity The Friends of The Connection Social Care. Think of Woody Allen’s London movies, in which he’s as creepily infatuated with Thames-view apartments and great, sprawling Kent estates as with his muse Scarlett Johansson’s lips. Rules is the oldest restaurant in London. Tuxedoed waiters glide around the formal interior, decorated with antique sketches, where plush banquettes offer a discreet retreat from the main dining room. Today Rules seats around 90 people and employs 90 staff . Down the decades Rules has been an unofficial “green room” for the world of entertainment from Henry Irving to Laurence Olivier, and the history of the English stage adorns the walls. Legend has it that a soup salesman named Boulanger opened the first modern restaurant 250 years ago in Paris. Established by Thomas Rule in 1798, Rules is a Covent Garden institution and the oldest restaurant in London. When under threat of demolition in the early seventies, it was another author, John Betjeman, who leapt to its lyrical defence in a letter to The Greater London Council: “A place which has been constantly used by actors, managers and famous people, as Rules has,” he wrote, “acquires an invisible atmosphere, just as a church frequented by praying people acquires an atmosphere. Wonderful ambiance and I had a lovely meal there too! My waiting was really nice about answering my questions and finding a good place to take a picture of me!Betty, thanks for the nice words! The late John Betjeman, then Poet Laureate, described the ground floor interior as “unique and irreplaceable, and part of literary and theatrical London”. It’s a leap in the not-so-dark to suggest he was under the influence; the evidence, based purely on his alcohol-and-writing credo, suggests that he was. Rules Restaurant & Private Dining Rooms. Rules is fortunate in owning an estate in the High Pennines, “England’s last wilderness”, which supplies training in game management for the staff, exercising its own quality controls and determining how the game is treated. This site uses cookies as explained in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Top 13 - Group 2 Pop Up Restaurant: Diner Challenge: Sunday, 3 March 0.716 6 21 Top 13 - Group 1 Pop Up Restaurant: Brunch Challenge: Monday, 4 March 0.708 10 22 Sudden Death Cook-Off 4: Tuesday, 5 March 0.753 8 23 Top 12 →Top 11 - Group 1 Pop Up Restaurant: Farmers Challenge: Wednesday, 6 March 0.732 7 7 24 Currently, the restaurant’s menu boasts a steak and kidney suet pudding, rump of vension, braised haunch of hare, beef cheek, and several game courses, including grouse, which “may contain lead shot.” “To eat here,” says O’Loughlin later in her fond and tongue-in-cheek review, “is to allow yourself to sink into a … fantasy of a past we've never experienced.