The Covent Garden restaurant, which was established in 1798, has been gifted to the National Trust along with valuable items such as its visitor books, menus and photographs.
The restaurant will continue to trade as normal, while becoming a commercial tenant of the charity. As part of the deal, rent payments will go towards the conservation of the building.
Rules is a restaurant steeped in history and is largely considered to be a restaurant institution, serving British food in timeless surroundings and observing time-honoured traditions of service and hospitality.
Described as being ‘unique and irreplaceable’, it was founded by Thomas Rule serving oysters on Maiden Lane. It has been popular among high profile-figures across the generations, from Charles Dickens and Charlie Chaplin to Harrison Ford and King Edward VII reportedly used to meet his mistress, actress Lillie Langtry, in a corner on the second floor.
During World War II, it remained open offering essential rationed meals at five shillings while still indulging patrons with the likes of rabbits, grouse, and pheasants.
More recently, poet Sir John Betjeman delivered a compelling testimony advocating for the restaurant’s preservation during a public inquiry by the Greater London Council in 1971. His efforts were instrumental in safeguarding Rules from demolition and the restaurant in now home to a private dining room named in his honour.