The former Covent Garden offices of the Lady magazine are to become a pub, the Standard understands.
The historic six-storey Georgian building at 39-40 Bedford Street — which, surprisingly, remains unlisted — is set to open as a restaurant and pub, with Westminster Council last week approving a licence application by Charlie Carroll, the Flat Iron founder and operator behind the Devonshire in Soho, and Capital and Counties Ltd. It is thought the new pub will retain the magazine’s name.
The decision, which was granted on Wednesday October 15, grants Carroll and his partners full usage of the huge, 12,671 sq ft building. It’s expected that it will become a multi-floor restaurant with a pub on the ground floor, in a similar operation to the famed Soho pub. It is unclear what the basement will be used for, besides storage for beer.
Involved alongside Carroll will be landlord Oisín Rogers, and the acclaimed chef Ashley Palmer-Watts, who besides the Devonshire is best known for helping Heston Blumenthal win three Michelin stars at the Fat Duck, and for creating Dinner by Heston in Knightsbridge, winning a further two stars. The Standard has been told the Lady is likely to showcase Palmer-Watts’ cooking prominently.
There is no opening date at present, but the operation is unlikely to open until the first quarter of 2027 at the earliest. The licence application suggests the opening will create at least 150 jobs.
The news is significant for the Lady offices, which have sat empty since the now defunct magazine left them in 2019. The magazine had a long history with the building, having moved in in 1891. It was founded by Thomas Gibson Bowles, who also founded Vanity Fair magazine, and was the maternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Once the longest-running women’s magazine in Britain, it was most notable for its classified advertisements for domestic staff, and holiday property listings.
The news comes not long after it was announced that Carl McCluskey, founder of the award-winning Crisp Pizza, would be opening a pub in Mayfair called the Marlborough, with the help of Carroll and Rogers.
The Lady is expected to open in early 2027
