Bluebird Chelsea, at 330–350 King's Road,

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

, is a Grade II-listed building that is now a noted D&D London restaurant and café, but which had its origins as a noted

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

garage complex built for the Bluebird Motor Company, which had connections with

Sir Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

Early history

The garage was built for the Bluebird Motor Company in 1923, designed to the very latest style by the architect Robert Sharp. At the time of its completion the garages were claimed to be the largest in Europe. At , there was room for 300 cars in the main garage, a further was given over to workshops. On either side of the garage two further buildings contained lounges and writing rooms. The lounges were segregated for ladies, owners and chauffeurs. The

land speed record The land speed record (LSR) or absolute land speed record is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. By a 1964 agreement between the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and Fédération Internationale de M ...

breaker

Malcolm Campbell Major Sir Malcolm Campbell (11 March 1885 – 31 December 1948) was a British racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times, using vehicles called ''Blue Bird'', including a 1 ...

was connected with the Bluebird garage, initially holding the franchise for

Itala Itala may refer to: * Itala (company), an Italian car manufacturer ** Itala Special, a special custom-built Grand Prix race car * Itala (given name), an Italian given name * Itala, Sicily, a municipality in Sicily * Itala Film, an Italian film com ...

and

Ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16th cent ...

cars. He raced both of these marques, using this hobby as a form of advertising. In 1925 he also became the agent for the newly founded

Chrysler FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...

company. As a racing driver he was less than impressed with Chrysler and imposed upon his long-suffering mechanic

Leo Villa Leopoldo Alfonso Villa (30 November 1899 – 18 January 1979) was the long-serving mechanic of Sir Malcolm Campbell and Donald Campbell. He was born in London, of Italian and Scottish parents. Villa, Life with the Speed King Birth and early ...

to wring just enough speed out of it to put up an impressive show at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

. One of Campbell's maxims was, "Never trade with your own money. Always use that of others", which he demonstrated when the Bluebird garage folded in 1927. The shareholders (of whom Campbell wasn't one) lost their whole investment. He repeated this with another garage at

St. James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of it is still owned ...

in the 1930s, again losing none of his own money whilst the backers lost £25,000. His own racing garage at Brooklands, the "Campbell Shed" paid for from his own pocket, was more successful. In later years the building was used as an ambulance station. From the late 1980s until the late 1990s the main building housed a fashion market called "Garage".

Recent history

In 1997 the building was converted by Sir Terence Conran's Conran Group into the "Bluebird Gastrodrome", including a foodstore, chef shop, restaurant, bar, café and private dining rooms. The foodstore combined the skills and quality of specialists in bakery, butchery, greengrocery, fish and cheese mongers with the range of a supermarket. It also included specialist wine, coffee and confectionery sections. The garage area was later occupied by the

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

supermarket chain as an experimental "concept" shop. Sainsbury's withdrew from the space, which made way for "The Shop at Bluebird", a high-end clothes, furniture and book shop.

References

External links

Restaurant.co.uk/ Bluebird Restaurant & Bar official websiteProfile of Bluebird development at Conran & Partners
* * {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1923 Art Deco architecture in London Grade II listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Bluebird record-breaking vehicles King's Road, Chelsea, London