People queueing to get into Blue Bird, Kings Road (geograph 4104023)

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

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an affluent area in west London, England, due south-west of Charing Cross by approximately 2.5 miles. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the south-western postal area. Chelsea histori ...

, 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 ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

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 (or absolute land speed record) is the highest speed achieved by a person using a vehicle on land. There is no single body for validation and regulation; in practice the Category C ("Special Vehicles") flying start regula ...

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 was a car manufacturer based in Turin, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by Matteo Ceirano and five partners in 1903. Ceirano family background The Ceirano brothers, Giovanni Battista, Giovanni, Ernesto and Matteo, were influential in the ...

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 secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

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 Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

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 c ...

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 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. In the late 1990s the main building housed a fashion market

Recent history

In 1997 the building was converted by

Sir Terence Conran Sir Terence Orby Conran (4 October 1931 – 12 September 2020) was an English designer, restaurateur, retailer and writer. He founded the Design Museum in Shad Thames, London in 1989 The British designer Thomas Heatherwick said that 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 the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

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_website.html" ;"title="Bluebird" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="Restaurant">Restaurant
.co.uk/ Bluebird Restaurant & Bar official website">Bluebird" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="Restaurant">Restaurant
.co.uk/ Bluebird Restaurant & Bar official websitebr>Profile 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