Harry's Bar is a private members dining club at 26

South Audley Street South Audley Street is a major shopping street in Mayfair, London.'South Audley Street: Introduction', in Survey of London: Volume 40, the Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings), ed. F H W Sheppard (London, 1980), pp. 290–291. Bri ...

in London's

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

district. It was established by Mark Birley in 1979 with the American businessman James Sherwood as his silent partner. Birley and Sherwood subsequently had a dispute after Birley left the management of the club to his two children. Birley sold the club with his four other Mayfair clubs,

Annabel's Annabel's is a private members' club at 46 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, London. It was opened at 44 Berkeley Square in 1963 by Mark Birley and named for his wife Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart. It was founded in the basement of the Clermont C ...

, Mark's Club,

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

, and the

Bath & Racquets Club The Bath & Racquets Club is a private members' gym and squash club at 49 Brook's Mews in London's Mayfair district. The club has 300 members and is the most expensive private gym club in London. It was established by Mark Birley in 1989. Birle ...

, to

Richard Caring Richard Allan Caring (born 4 June 1948) is a British businessman. He initially built a business, International Clothing Designs, supplying Hong Kong-manufactured fashion to UK retailers. In 2004 he diversified his business interest into proper ...

in 2007. Harry's Bar is renowned for its Italian cuisine. Two unaffiliated branches of Harry's Bar also owned by Richard caring have opened in the 2010s: on Basil Street in Knightsbridge in 2017, and on James Street in Marylebone in 2018.

Origins

Harry's Bar is located at 26

in London's

district. The site had been previously occupied by the wine merchants Block, Grey & Block. The club was established by Mark Birley in 1979 and named for the famed bar of the same name in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

founded by Giuseppe Cipriani. Birley's

silent partner A silent partner is one who shares in the profits and losses of a business, but is not involved in its management. Silent partner or Silent Partners may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Silent Partner'', a 2005 film starring Tara Reid ...

in Harry's Bar was the American businessman James Sherwood who owned 49% to Birley's 51%. Sherwood invested $575,000 to establish Harry's Bar through his

Orient-Express Hotels Belmond Ltd. (formerly Orient-Express Hotels Ltd.) is a hospitality and leisure company that operates hotels, train services and river cruises and safaris worldwide. In 2024, the company has 47 properties in 28 countries and territories, with 3 ...

company. Birley and Sherwood's original agreement included a clause that stated that the other would have the right to buy out his partner's shares should either of them cease to act individually. The clause led to a dispute between Birley and Sherwood after Birley's children, India Jane and Robin Birley, assumed the management of his clubs due to Birley's ill health. Birley wrote an open letter to members stating that he had been unwell and had " ... tried in vain for nearly a year now to persuade him herwoodthat Harry's Bar can only work as a family run business and not as part of a large publicly-quoted hotel group ...As a family we can't agree to his terms which involve short term performance targets that would trigger a buy-out by Orient-Express Limited in the event we fail to meet them. As you know I don't run my business like that and as my children have been brought up in the clubs they understand that we take a long term view". Robin Birley said that "Harry's Bar is about spending $80,000 per annum on flowers; it's about perfectionism. We wouldn't start doing catering or opening on weekends or turning tables to make ends meet. That completely goes against the ethos of what we do". In 2004 Harry's Bar made a profit of $1.8 million. Sherwood wrote to Mark Birley in March 2005 that he did not have the same freedom that Birley enjoyed as he was the head of a public company and also said that he had never asked Birley to restrain his spending on the restaurant. The Birley family bought the 51% stake of Orient-Express Hotels in Harry's Bar for £5.1 million in 2006.

Ambience

Birley said of Harry's Bar that he tried to create the warmth and informality of the Venetian Harry's Bar. The head chef upon opening was Alberico Penati, with the menu centred around the Milan region of Italy. The decor of the club was designed by Nina Campbell. Cartoons from ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' by

Peter Arno Curtis Arnoux Peters, Jr. (January 8, 1904 – February 22, 1968), known professionally as Peter Arno, was an American cartoonist. He contributed cartoons and 101 covers to ''The New Yorker'' from 1925, the magazine's first year, until 1968, the ...

are prominently displayed among fabrics by Mariano Fortuny. The club was intended to be more receptive to women diners than Birley's Mark's Club. Lawrence Goldman wrote of the club in Birley's entry in the ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'' that "For thin ladies who lunched, as well as American visitors and devotees of Italian cuisine, the food and ambience were sublime. Prices were exorbitant: at one time Harry's Bar was the highest grossing restaurant per square foot in the world. Birley considered it to be his apogee".

Membership

The membership of Harry's Bar was described in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' shortly after opening in 1979 as consisting of a "dollop of the titled...and some of the top businessmen around town". By 1990 Emma Soames felt that the clientele of the restaurant was "classy" and "resembles the departure lounge for

Concorde Concorde () is a retired Anglo-French supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the United Kingdom signed a treaty establishin ...

" and spotted

Lew Grade Lew Grade, Baron Grade, (born Lev Winogradsky; 25 December 1906 – 13 December 1998) was a Ukrainian-born British media proprietor and impresario. Originally a dancer, and later a talent agent, Grade's interest in television production ...

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

and

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

at lunch there on her visit and listed Lord Hanson,

Alan Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser. Sugar began what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company A ...

and Gordon White as regular guests. The cost of membership was £600 a year in 1990 (). In his 1988 book ''The Fashion Conspiracy'',

Nicholas Coleridge Sir Nicholas David Coleridge, , DL (born 4 March 1957) is a British former media executive, author, and cultural chair. He is chairman of Historic Royal Palaces (2023–) and Provost of Eton (2024–). He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in th ...

described Harry's Bar as the perfect place to "watch designer clothes in action" with Harry's Bar being a "national park for designer labels, with Valentino's, Ungaro's, Armarni's and Saint Laurent's roaming at will in their natural habitat". In 1998

Jonathan Meades Jonathan Turner Meades (born 21 January 1947) is an English writer and film-maker. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty television films, many for the BBC. He has described himself as a "cardinal of atheism" and i ...

described the members of Harry's Bar as being " ... industrialists, diplomats, kings, American widows with an appetite for what the French euphemise as aesthetic surgery, film stars of the old school, dandiacal

plutocrats A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...

smoothies and the gastronomically earnest" and noted that "Members and staff know each other, are mutually respectful and on amiable terms – there is no doubt a trace of

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

in all this but it works to the benefit of both sides". In 1989 Claire Frankel summed up the clientele as being "classy international

yuppie Yuppie, short for "young urban professional" or "young upwardly-mobile professional", is a term coined in the early 1980s for a young professional person working in a city. The term is first attested in 1980, when it was used as a fairly neu ...

Prince Rupert Loewenstein Rupert, Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, Count of Löwenstein-ScharffeneckMartin, Douglas (22 May 2014). ''The New York Times. ''Retrieved 27 May 2014Archived here (24 August 1933 – 20 May 2014) was a Spanish-born Bavarian aristocr ...

persuaded Birley to allow the American singer

Terence Trent D'Arby Sananda Francesco Maitreya (born Terence Trent Howard; March 15, 1962), who started his career with the stage name Terence Trent D'Arby, is an American singer and songwriter who came to fame with his debut studio album, '' Introducing the Hard ...

to lunch with him at Harry's Bar shortly after the launch of D'Arby's debut album in 1987. Birley quipped to Loewenstein that D'Arby had a "fine English aristocratic surname". The painter

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

dined with the performance artist

Leigh Bowery Leigh Bowery (26 March 1961 – 31 December 1994) was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, and fashion designer. Bowery's performances featured striking costumes and make-up and were conceptual, flamboyant, outlandish, and sometime ...

at Harry's Bar in late 1980s. Bowery arrived without the customery jacket and tie demanded by the dress code of the restaurant, so Freud lent him a grey scarf and Bowery borrowed a jacket from a waiter. In 2008 banker Bob Diamond hosted a $25,000 a head fundraising event for 60 guests at Harry's Bar organised by Frances Prenn which raised $2 million for John McCain's American presidential campaign. Guests included

Cindy McCain Cindy Lou McCain (; born May 20, 1954) is an American diplomat, businesswoman, and humanitarian who is the executive director of the World Food Programme. McCain previously served as List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Nation ...

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

Louis Bacon Louis Moore Bacon (born July 25, 1956) is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and philanthropist. He is the founder and chief executive of Moore Capital Management. As of February 2024, ''Forbes'' estimated his net worth at US$1.5 bil ...

, and Russ Gercon. A Harry's Bar cookbook was published in 2005 by Harley Publishing with a foreword by Mark Birley and essays by

Frederick Forsyth Frederick McCarthy Forsyth ( ; 25 August 1938 – 9 June 2025) was an English novelist and journalist. He was best known for thrillers such as ''The Day of the Jackal'', ''The Odessa File'', ''The Fourth Protocol'', ''The Dogs of War (novel), ...

and

Nicholas Lander Nicholas Laurence Lander is a British consultant to and writer on the restaurant industry. Early life and education Lander studied at Manchester Grammar School, Jesus College, Cambridge, and Manchester Business School.

Reviews and opinions

Harry's Bar is renowned for its Italian cuisine. In 1990 Emma Soames described Harry's Bar in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as the "king of the High Urban school in London" contrasting its "High Urban" Italian cuisine with the newer "Tuscan Farmhouse" style as exemplified by the recently opened

River Café The River Café is a restaurant in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, specialising in Italian cuisine. It was owned and run by chefs Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray until Gray's death in 2010; sin ...

. Soames wrote that the food was "Unmistakably Italian and mostly classical, it is almost impossible to find fault with any of it (until you come to the bill)". The bill for "lunch with one bottle of wine and two glasses of pudding wine" for Soames and her guest came to £145 in 1990 ().

reviewed Harry's Bar in 1998 in ''The Times'' and praised its "unflashy opulence, discretion, nothing overlooked, obsessive attention to detail" that served "some of the most exquisite cooking in London". Meades felt that Harry's Bar was "...somewhere which is wittingly outside time, place and fashion (in so far as that's ever possible). It certainly goes by its own rules, it's hermetically swaddling, an autonomous cocoon". Harry's Bar has attracted praise from the Italian fashion designers

Giorgio Armani Giorgio Armani (; born 11 July 1934) is an Italian fashion designer and a billionaire. He first gained renown working for Cerruti 1881. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, which eventually expanded into music, sport, and luxury hotels. By 200 ...

and

Valentino Garavani Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (; born 11 May 1932), known mononymously as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer, the founder of the Valentino (fashion house), Valentino brand and company. His main lines include Valentino, Valentino G ...

, though

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco "Frankie" Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), is an Italian jockey who was based in England for a career spanning over 35 years. He was British flat racing Champion Jockey three times (1994, 1995 and 2004) and rode the winners of 287 ...

said that the meal was the most expensive he had ever had in London at £1200 for four people.

Sexual harassment allegations

The head chef of Harry's Bar, Alberico Penati, subjected a waitress to several months of aggressive sexual harassment while she worked there. She was subsequently awarded £124,000 by an employment tribunal for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination. Penati remained as executive chef following the tribunal. Penati would walk around the kitchen dressed in his underpants while making sexual remarks about women and would tell the waitress that he never surrendered "until I see the blood of my victim" and that she would have to be punished for rejecting him. The chairman of the tribunal, Gordon Etherington, said that Penati had a "grossly inflated sense of his own importance" and had a "bullying and arrogant" approach to staff. Penati left Harry's Bar after it was bought by

in 2007, stating that he preferred to "work for a family-run business not a corporation". He subsequently joined

Aspinall's The Wynn Mayfair, previously known as Crown London and Aspinall's is a private members club, established by John Aspinall (zoo owner), John Aspinall in London since the 1960s. Crown London is currently at 27–28 Curzon Street, Mayfair, London. ...

Curzon Street Curzon Street is a street in Mayfair, London, within the W1J postcode district, that ranges from Fitzmaurice Place, past Shepherd Market, to Park Lane. It is named after Sir Nathaniel Curzon, 2nd Baronet, who inherited the landholding during ...

, opening the restaurant Alberico at Aspinall's.

Sale and recent history

In 2007 Birley sold his four Mayfair clubs, including Harry's Bar, to

for £90 million. The club is now part of the Birley Clubs owned by Caring, including

, Mark's Club,

, and the

. An unaffiliated restaurant - also owned by Caring- heavily inspired by Harry's Bar, Harry's Dolce Vita, opened on Basil Street in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

in December 2017. With another branch of the unrelated Harry's Bar Restaurant opening on James Street in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

in October 2018. Harry's Bar celebrated its 40th birthday with a party in October 2021.

References

External links

* {{portalbar, Companies, Food, London 1979 establishments in England British companies established in 1979 Buildings and structures in Mayfair Gentlemen's clubs in London Italian restaurants in London Restaurants established in 1979 Sexual harassment in the United Kingdom