Hotels near Rules

Rules opened on Maiden Lane in 1798 and is London's oldest restaurant, a claim documented on its Wikipedia entry. It is a game specialist above everything else, sourcing from its own estate in the Pennines, and the grouse that appears from 12 August is the reason to come in autumn 2026. Year-round the order is the steak and kidney pudding at £26.25, available with an oyster in it for £27.95, or the roast rib of beef for two at £55 per person. Start with the Hertfordshire short rib and ox cheek terrine at £17.95 and finish with the Rules sticky toffee pudding at £11.50, and three courses with a side puts you at £70 to £85 per head, roughly €80 to €98, before wine.

The room is the point: red leather banquettes, low ceilings, oil paintings and Victorian cartoons stacked frame to frame, taxidermy, and waiters in white jackets who have worked here for decades. It is theatrical and slightly absurd and completely unlike anywhere else on this list. Weekend dinner needs three to four weeks' notice; a weekday lunch is much easier to get. Smart-casual dress is expected and sportswear is not welcome.

Pro Tip: Come between mid-August and December for the game season, when grouse, partridge and venison are on the card. Ask for a table in the ground-floor front room rather than upstairs - the upstairs bar is handsome but the main room is where the 1798 atmosphere actually lives.