Licensing bid for home of The Lady
Former HQ of women’s magazine could become a 450-seat restaurant
Friday, 15th August — By Frankie Lister-Fell
The Lady was published from its headquarters at 39-40 Bedford Street for 140 years
IT was home to the country’s longest-running women’s magazine, famed for its high-society stories on female etiquette and adverts for “discreet liaisons” from men.
But now the former home of The Lady magazine in Covent Garden could be converted into a 450-seater, four-storey restaurant and bar if a licensing application is approved.
Surviving two world wars, The Lady was published from its headquarters at 39-40 Bedford Street for 140 years before moving out of London in 2019.
It was once the pinnacle of female culture, despite initially being set up by a man, and had Lewis Carroll and Stella Gibbons on its roster of contributors.
But the prestigious title’s owner sold the office for £12.4million to property firm Capital and Counties Properties which owns a large proportion of the West End, and the magazine relocated from Bedford Street, just off The Strand, to a business park in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire.
The magazine’s editor, Sam Taylor, quit in 2019 over the move, telling the Press Gazette: “We all love this building. The building and the magazine are inextricably linked in a way.
The final and first pages of the magazine
“The Mitford sisters were in this building. Would Nancy Mitford have gone to Borehamwood? The answer to that is no. She would have said that a business park in Borehamwood is ‘non-U’ [a reference to Ms Mitford’s rules for being upper class].”
Julia Budworth, who used to run the magazine, had said: “It’s a handsome building and it epitomises Englishness and English honesty, I hope, and a certain amount of stability and good sense. It’s sad to see it broken up in this way.”
The final edition was published in April, but the website with classified ads and jobs board lives on.
This week an application to open a restaurant in the four-storey building was lodged by Charlie Carroll and Capital and Counties Ltd, which has a property portfolio of £5.2billion.
Mr Carroll could not be reached for comment yesterday (Thursday) but he is believed to be the celebrated beef supremo and founder of Flat Iron restaurant chain.
He runs a string of restaurants and pubs including the Devonshire in Piccadilly.
The space will have a restaurant on the first, second, third and fourth floors and an “ancillary bar”. The maximum capacity is 450 people.
The application is to serve alcohol between 9am and 11.30pm Monday to Thursday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.
