*the famous “Regency Cafe” – Pimlico-London SW1

The – “REGENCY CAFÉ” – Pimlico – London SW1

Last week, under a bitterly cold but gloriously sunny, blue London sky, my London Shoes headed off to the district of Pimlico situated down on the northern shores of the River Thames in SW London – the reason for going there was for the specific purpose of locating and visiting one of London’s historic and most famous cafés .

The venue in question is the iconic “REGENCY CAFÉ” situated in Regency Street – Pimlico, and its a café that has an amazing history.

Opened in 1946 this art-deco style café is as popular as a tourist attraction as it is a wonderful old school typical English café.

It original owners ran the business for many years, eventually handing ownership down to their children – so it is a proper family business.

The tiling throughout the café is original – the formica top tables are slightly, but only slightly newer.

The walls of the Regency Café are adorned with nostalgic photos and memorabilia – as the café has been the backdrop for many a photoshoot, whether that be for modelling or for promotional and advertising campaign assignments.

One of the walls behind the counter is crammed with old photos relating to Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (ie Spurs) – so there’s obviously a bit of a Spurs fandom thing going on there, with the family that own the Regency.

 

Apart from serving up large portions of tasty old school proper English breakfasts (plus various other culinary breckie ‘extras’) the Regency Café has featured in many a film and tv prog – the most commonly known would probably Brighton Rock / Judge John Deed / Layer Cake / London Spy / Rescue Me……and most recently “Rocket Man”, the award-winning film about the rise to fame and stardom of “Elton John”.

In the film Rocket Man – the Regency Café plays a pivotal part in the early stages of the film, as it is where Elton John (then Reg Dwight) first discusses the possibilities of forming a songwriting partnership with lyricist Bernie Taupin.

The ‘tea’ served up at the Regency Café was once described by the London media as “proper builders tea, the stuff that fueled the workers of the docks / factories and steel works of Britain – a mug of proper liquid copper”

In 2013 – the results of a poll conducted by Yelp, voted the Regency Café was actually voted the 5^th best restaurant in London.

Time Out magazine once gave it a 3 out of 5 rating – describing its Menu ‘Stodgetastic’.

The Regency opens at 7am and closes at 2:25pm on weekdays – 7am to 12 midday – (Closed on Sundays).

The café is always crammed full of punters throughout its opening hours – with queues often going out of its front door, into the street and around the corner.

The café’s kitchen and counter are run with military precision, with the lady at the counter shouting out the orders like a drill sergeant, and to be fair – it has to be run and policed like that. Everything moves so quickly, and has to – with the volume of punters constantly streaming through the door – it is fascinating watching the Regency team in action, fully entertaining in its own right.

There aren’t that many tables inside the café, but the turn over and availability is much quicker than I expected, when my London Shoes visited – by the time I’d ordered scrambled egg on toast / bacon / beans / 2 x slices of bread plus 2 x tea’s….twice – for me and my old mate Pete, (my accomplice for the day’s trek out) – Pete had already grabbed a table and bunged his bum on a seat for us.

The food was as good as it looked, and my only regret was that I hadn’t added double sausage and a slice of black pudding to my choice.

I was really pleased that my London Shoes had legged it down to Pimlico to check out the Regency Café – really enjoyed eating there and the entire experience of simply ‘being there’ – a fantastic and unique place.

So – having thoroughly enjoyed a very satisfying breckie at the Regency – I walked it off by ambling around the mean streets of Pimlico – where my London Shoes stumbled upon the “White Swan” pub – ideal for a little liquid refreshment.

There has been a licenced premises on the site of the White Swan in Vauxhall Bridge Road, since 1759.

It is situated just down the road from Millbank – the site on the Thames where the boats that transported prisoners to Australia, would dock – and get them all on-board.

A very cosy pub – where my London Shoes and my mate Pete, enjoyed a couple of cheeky beers before heading off back home, after a good few hours out down Pimlico way.

However – there is an addendum to this article – because it wasn’t until my London Shoes had got back home, and conducted a little bit more extra research on the Regency Cafe – I discovered to my horror and sadness, that (after all those years) the Regency Café has been up for sale since  Dec 2024!!!

Its sale is being handled by Christie & Co who specialise in the sale of historic/iconic businesses and buildings such as pubs and restaurants.

Apparently – there is a promise that it won’t be developed into flats/apartments, and the intention is for it to remain as an on-going business.

Let’s hope that promise is kept to so that this legendary historic institution can remain in place for future generations to enjoy – as much as previous generations have.

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See below the entire gallery of photos taken to accompany this blog article