| Café Royal | |
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south side of entrance, 2008 |
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| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1865 |
| Street address | 68 Regent Street |
| City | London |
| Postal code/ZIP | W1B 5EL |
| Country | UK |
| Coordinates | |
The Café Royal was a restaurant and meeting place on 68 Regent Street in London's Piccadilly.
The establishment was originally conceived and set up in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, who was a French wine merchant. He had to flee France due to bankruptcy, arriving in Britain in 1863 with his wife, Célestine, and just five pounds in cash. He changed his name to Daniel Nicols. Under his son, also named Daniel Nicols, the Cafe Royal flourished and was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world.
By the 1890s the Café Royal had become the place to see and be seen. Its patrons included Oscar Wilde,[1] Aleister Crowley,[2] Virginia Woolf, Winston Churchill, Noël Coward, Brigitte Bardot, Sir Max Beerbohm, George Bernard Shaw, Sir Jacob Epstein, Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Taylor, Muhammad Ali and Diana, Princess of Wales.[3] From 1951, it was the home of the National Sporting Club. The Café Royal entered a new era after 1972, when it was bought by David Locke.
The Cafe Royal closed in December 2008.[4] The premises are to be redeveloped into a luxury hotel by an Israeli property company.[5] The fittings and furniture were later sold at auction.[3][6] The building is a grade 1 listed building, which will protect its architecturally significant features and fixtures.