The Ivy is a British restaurant founded in 1917 known for its popularity with celebrities. The original restaurant's location in the West End, opposite the

Ambassadors An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

and St Martin's theatres, made it a popular restaurant for theatregoers. The Ivy has since expanded into various locations across the United Kingdom and Ireland, known as the Ivy Collection.

History

1917–1989

The original restaurant was opened by Abel Giandolini in 1917 as an unlicensed Italian café in a building on the same site. Legend has it that the name itself originated from a chance remark by the actress

Alice Delysia Alice Henriette Lapize (3 March 1889 – 10 February 1979), better known by her stage name, Alice Delysia and sometimes Elise Delisia, was a French actress and singer who made her career in English musical theatre. After performing in the cho ...

, who overheard Giandolini apologise to a customer for the inconvenience caused by building works. When he said that it was because of his intention to create a restaurant of the highest class, she interjected "Don't worry – we will always come and see you. 'We will cling together like the ivy'", a line from the then-popular song, 1902's "Just Like the Ivy I'll Cling to You", written by A. J. Mills and

Harry Castling Henry Castling (19 April 1865 – 26 December 1933) was an English lyricist of music hall songs. Biography Castling was born in Newington, London, the son of a street musician. He began writing songs in the 1890s, often collaborating on both ...

. The restaurant expanded into the current premises in 1929 run by Giandolini, with his longstanding maitre d' Mario Gallati as host. In part due to its proximity to the West End theatres, exclusivity and late closing time, the restaurant quickly became a theatrical institution, with

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

and

Vivien Leigh Vivien Leigh ( ; born Vivian Mary Hartley; 5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967), styled as Lady Olivier after 1947, was a British actress. After completing her drama school education, Leigh appeared in small roles in four films in 1935 and progress ...

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however, Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

John Gielgud Sir Arthur John Gielgud ( ; 14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000) was an English actor and theatre director whose career spanned eight decades. With Ralph Richardson and Laurence Olivier, he was one of the trinity of actors who dominated the Britis ...

Lilian Braithwaite Dame Florence Lilian Braithwaite (9 March 1873 – 17 September 1948) was an English actress, primarily of the stage, although she appeared in both silent and talkie films. Early life She was born in Ramsgate, Kent, the daughter of the Revd Joh ...

Terence Rattigan Sir Terence Mervyn Rattigan (10 June 191130 November 1977) was a British dramatist and screenwriter. He was one of England's most popular mid-20th-century dramatists. His plays are typically set in an upper-middle-class background.Geoffrey Wan ...

Binkie Beaumont Hugh "Binkie" Beaumont (27 March 1908 - 22 March 1973) was a British theatre manager and producer, sometimes referred to as the " éminence grise" of the West End theatre. Though he shunned the spotlight so that his name was not known widely am ...

and

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time (magazine), Time'' called "a sense of personal style, a combination of c ...

being habitués, having their regular two-seater tables along the walls. According to the actor

Donald Sinden Sir Donald Alfred Sinden (9 October 1923 – 12 September 2014) was an English actor. Sinden featured in the film ''Mogambo'' (1953), and achieved early fame as a Rank Organisation film star in the 1950s in films including '' The Cruel Sea'' ( ...

in his

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

television documentary series ''

Great West End Theatres ''Great West End Theatres'' is a documentary series planned and intended to detail the history, architecture, and theatrical anecdotes of all forty West End Theatres of London (as covered by the monthly Society of London Theatre list). The ten ep ...

'', The Ivy became so famous as a theatrical-celebrities haunt that in the 1943

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

''Sweet and Low'' which ran for almost six years at the neighbouring Ambassadors Theatre, there was a satirical sketch included, updated regularly, entitled ''Poison Ivy'', where the show's star

Hermione Gingold Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold (; 9 December 189724 May 1987) was an English actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric character. Her signature drawling, deep voice was a result of nodules on her vocal cords she developed in the 1920s and ea ...

"would exchange wicked and salacious celebrity gossip". In 1950, Giandolini sold The Ivy to Bernard Walsh and the restaurant became part of his Wheeler's group of fish restaurants. Subsequent owners were Lady Grade and the Forte Foundation. After closing in 1989, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, who owned Le Caprice, bought it.

1990–present

Under its new owners, the restaurant was transformed to a design by American architect MJ Long and incorporated specially-commissioned artworks by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, Sir Peter Blake, Sir Howard Hodgkin,

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in West Norwood, No ...

, Allen Jones,

Joe Tilson Joseph Charles Tilson (24 August 1928 – 9 November 2023) was a British visual artist and fellow of the Royal Academy. He was involved in the Pop Art movement in the 1960s; he made paintings, prints and constructions. Early life and educa ...

Patrick Caulfield Patrick Joseph Caulfield, (29 January 1936 – 29 September 2005), was an English painter and printmaker known for his bold canvases, which often incorporated elements of photorealism within a pared-down scene. Examples of his work are ''Po ...

Michael Craig-Martin Sir Michael Craig-Martin (born 28 August 1941) is an Irish-born contemporary conceptual artist and painter. He is known for fostering and adopting the Young British Artists, many of whom he taught, and for his conceptual artwork, '' An Oak ...

and Tom Phillips. The restaurant opened in June 1990, and can seat 100 customers with a private dining room on the first floor, seating up to 60. Mobile phones and cameras are forbidden throughout the restaurant and adjoining club and there is a dress code requiring smart casual attire. A recipe book, ''The Ivy: The Restaurant and its Recipes'', written by the restaurant critic

A. A. Gill Adrian Anthony Gill (28 June 1954 – 10 December 2016) was a British writer, best known for writing about food and travel, and for his work in television. Publications he contributed to included ''The Sunday Times'', wrote for '' Vanity Fair'' ...

was published in 1997. Fernando Peire was appointed senior

maître d' (spelled according to post-1990 spelling rules) is a commonly used honorific for lawyers, judicial officers and notaries in France, Belgium, Switzerland and French-speaking parts of Canada. It is often written in its abbreviated form ''Me'' o ...

, eventually leaving in December 1998, three months after the restaurant was sold to

Belgo Belgo was a chain of London restaurants specializing in simple Belgian cooking and Belgian beer. There were five Belgo restaurants: Belgo Centraal ( Covent Garden), Belgo Holborn, Belgo Kings Cross, Belgo Nottingham and Belgo Bromley; followin ...

PLC as part of Caprice Holdings Ltd; Corbin and King departed two years later (whereupon they established their own Rex Restaurants, later Corbin & King). In 2000, the restaurant was awarded the

Moët & Chandon Moët & Chandon (), also known simply as Moët, is a French fine winery and part of the luxury goods company LVMH, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE. Moët et Chandon is one of the world's largest champagne producers and a prominent List o ...

London Restaurant Award for excellence. In 2005, the entrepreneur

Richard Caring Richard Allan Caring (born 4 June 1948) is a British businessman. He initially built a business, International Clothing Designs, supplying Hong Kong-manufactured fashion to UK retailers. In 2004 he diversified his business interest into proper ...

bought The Ivy and the Caprice Holdings group (which owns Le Caprice in the

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 of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

area of London, J. Sheekey near

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

, Scotts in Mount Street and 34 in

Grosvenor Square Grosvenor Square ( ) is a large garden square in the Mayfair district of Westminster, Greater London. It is the centrepiece of the Mayfair property of the Duke of Westminster, and takes its name from the duke's surname "Grosvenor". It was deve ...

). In 2007, Fernando Peire returned to The Ivy as Director of The Ivy and The Club at The Ivy. Gary Lee, who had previously been in charge of private functions at The Ivy, returned as head chef and was appointed executive chef in 2008. Executive chef director of Caprice Holdings restaurants (now Caprice Group) is Tim Hughes since 27 June 2005.

The Club at The Ivy

In September 2008, The Club at The Ivy, a private members' club with a hidden entrance via an adjacent flower-shop, was opened on the three floors above the restaurant, with membership (drawn primarily from

creative industries The creative industries refers to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries (especially in Europe) or the ...

and the arts) "as hard to get as a table at The Ivy itself" according to the author

. It has a Piano Lounge; a dining room ("The Drawing Room"), open for breakfast, lunch and supper; a wood-panelled library "of books that reflect many of our members' interests in art, literature, film, theatre, architecture and design"; a

film screening A film screening is the displaying of a motion picture or film, generally referring to a special showing as part of a film's production and release cycle. To show the film to best advantage, special screenings may take place in plush, low seat-cou ...

-room and entertainment space known as the Loft; a further private dining-room seating up to 14 people and a cigar-terrace. Its former director was Fernando Peire who left in June 2021, the former senior maître d' (star of the Channel 5 TV series ''

The Restaurant Inspector ''The Restaurant Inspector'' is an observational documentary television series, fronted by Fernando Peire, which airs on British terrestrial television station, Channel 5 (British TV channel), Channel 5. It is a spin-off from the popular British ...

'').

The Ivy Asia

The Ivy Asia is a restaurant coming under the Ivy Restaurant group, offering Asian-inspired food and drink. The original Ivy Asia restaurant launched in May 2021 in the Ivy Manchester Spinningfields branch. Multiple branches have opened across the UK since, including Cardiff, Brighton, London (Chelsea, Mayfair and St Paul's) and Leeds.

The Ivy Collection

In 2011, the company planned to open the first Ivy Café, in London's Mayfair; however, this did not take place. Since 2014, the company has opened over 30 spin-off restaurants, the Ivy Collection, known as Ivy Cafés and Ivy Brasseries. Caprice Holdings opened the Ivy Market Grill in

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

in 2014.

References

External links

* – official site * – official site {{DEFAULTSORT:Ivy, The Restaurants in London 1916 establishments in England Restaurants established in 1929 Buildings and structures in the City of Westminster