Clifford Street is a street in central

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, built in the early 18th century, on land that once formed part of the

Burlington Estate __NOTOC__ The Burlington Estate is an area in Mayfair to the north of Piccadilly in the West End of London, England.Earls of Cumberland. The daughter and heiress of the last holder of that title was the mother of the first

Lord Burlington Earl of Burlington is a title that has been created twice, the first time in the Peerage of England in 1664 and the second in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1831. Since 1858, Earl of Burlington has been a courtesy title used by the duk ...

Location

The street runs east–west from

New Bond Street Bond Street in the West End of London links Piccadilly in the south to Oxford Street in the north. Since the 18th century the street has housed many prestigious and upmarket fashion retailers. The southern section is Old Bond Street and the ...

Savile Row Savile Row (pronounced ) is a street in Mayfair, central London. Known principally for its traditional bespoke tailoring for men, the street has had a varied history that has included accommodating the headquarters of the Royal Geographical ...

. It is crossed by

Old Burlington Street Old Burlington Street is a street in central London that is on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate. Location The street runs north–south from Boyle Street to Burlington Gardens and is crossed only by Clifford Street. History A ...

, and

Cork Street Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England, with many contemporary art galleries, and was previously associated with the tailoring industry. It is part of the Burlington Estate, which was developed from the 18th centu ...

runs from its south side to

Burlington Gardens Burlington Gardens is a street in central London, on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate. Location The street is immediately to the north of the Royal Academy of Arts and joins Old Bond Street and New Bond Street in the west and ...

History

The Clifford Street Club, a debating society sometimes known humorously as the Clifford Street Senate, met at the Clifford Street Coffee House at the corner of Bond Street around 1800. Among the members were Charles Townshend, the future British Prime Minister George Canning,

James Mackintosh Sir James Mackintosh FRS FRSE (24 October 1765 – 30 May 1832) was a Scottish jurist, Whig politician and Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. He was trained as a doctor and barrister, and worked also as a jo ...

, Richard Sharp (known as "Conversation" Sharp, doyen of British conversationalists), Ollyett Woodhouse and Charles Moore. The discussion was of a political nature, usually from a Liberal perspective, and the staple drink was large jugs of

porter Porter may refer to: Companies * Porter Airlines, Canadian regional airline based in Toronto * Porter Chemical Company, a defunct U.S. toy manufacturer of chemistry sets * Porter Motor Company, defunct U.S. car manufacturer * H.K. Porter, Inc., ...

. Topics included the consequences of the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

.Piccadilly: Northern tributaries
''Old and New London: Volume 4''. 1878, pp. 291–314. Date accessed: 16 June 2014.

Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804. Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...

, British Prime Minister 1801–04, lived at number 7 (now demolished and replaced) between 1805 and 1808 and 1816–24.

Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey Admiral Sir Eliab Harvey (5 December 1758 – 20 February 1830) was an eccentric and hot-tempered officer of the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars who was as distinguished for his gambling and dueling as fo ...

, who had commanded the '' Téméraire'' at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (180 ...

in 1805, lived at number 8 until his death in 1830. Buck's clubhouse at number 18, the home of

Buck's Club Buck's Club is a gentlemen's club in London, located at 18 Clifford Street, established in June 1919. P. G. Wodehouse mentions it in some stories and modelled his Drones Club mostly after Buck's. It is probably best known for the Buck's Fiz ...

established in 1919, was where the cocktail Bucks Fizz, and possibly the

Sidecar A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

, were invented. It was one of the models for The Drones Club in the stories of

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...

Listed buildings

Clifford Street contains a number of

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s. Numbers 4, 5 9, 16 and 17 are all listed with

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

. Number 8 Clifford Street, graded class II*, has a staircase hall panelled and frescoed in monochrome ''

trompe-l'œil ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...

'' that is attributed to

Sir James Thornhill Sir James Thornhill (25 July 1675 or 1676 – 4 May 1734) was an English painter of historical subjects working in the Italian baroque tradition. He was responsible for some large-scale schemes of murals, including the "Painted Hall" at the Ro ...

Shops

3 Clifford Street is home to ''Drakes'', the gentlemen's luxury accessories label, since 2011. '' Eskenazi'', one of the world's leading dealers in Chinese art and artifacts, run by Giuseppe Eskenazi, has been based at 10 Clifford Street since 1993. The ''Maas Gallery'', a

commercial art gallery An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells Work of art, works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and build ...

, is at 15A. 15B is home to Morris's Cafe, a well established coffee shop and restaurant for well over 35 years. It is well known within the local community, and the likes of Rod Stewart and Bernie Ecclestone have been regulars. ''Lutwyche'', the gentleman's tailor and shoemaker are at number 15. ''W. & H. Gidden'', established in 1806, are located at number 16 and hold a Royal Warrant as saddlers to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.W & H Gidden
''Great British Attire'', 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2014. ''Anderson & Sheppard'', the gentlemen's tailor with a Royal Warrant from Prince Charles, have been at number 17 since 2012.

References

External links

{{Coord, 51, 30, 39.87, N, 0, 8, 28.68, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title Mayfair Streets in the City of Westminster Burlington Estate