Latest opening: The Barley Mow
What: The latest opening from rapidly expanding premium pub group Cubitt House. The company has taken a former Greene King site on the corner of Mayfair’s Duke Street and Duke’s Yard and completely stripped it out, creating a traditional-yet-upmarket looking bar area downstairs and a smaller upstairs restaurant that’s gone for a more contemporary ‘clubby’ feel.
Who: Cubitt House is privately owned and operated by Georgie and Sam Pearman. The pair have created an impressive senior team with Ben Tish overseeing the food as chef director and another restaurant and pub industry power couple - Seb Fogg and Laura Montana - in place as managing director and openings director respectively. Lara Rogers, daughter of high-profile pub landlord Oisín Rogers, is general manager. She is well-suited to the role - her first fully-overseeing a venue - having worked with her father at the nearby The Guinea Grill. The head chef is Chris Fordham-Smith, whose CV includes the Great Northern Hotel and The Westbury. Finally, The Barley Mow’s restaurant manager is Michael McGivern, who joins from The Princess Royal in Notting Hill, which is also operated by Cubitt House.
The vibe: Designed by Georgie Pearman, the interiors are traditional in feel and notably high-spec, with design touches including wooden panelling, velvet banquettes and the site’s original back bar from the 1800s. Seating 45, the first-floor restaurant has a more intimate feel with white marble bar tops, refrigerated displays of meat and cheese, and white table cloths.
The food: According to Tish, the food at The Barley Mow is rooted in the classics, taking its inspiration ‘from Britain with a little bit of France’. The offer is a departure from the majority of Cubitt House’s other sites, which offer pub food with Mediterranean influences (prior to taking the gig last year Tish oversaw the food at Fitzrovia’s Norma and, before that, Salt Yard Group). The food is billed as ‘accessibly priced’ (by Mayfair standards, at least) with starters from £12, mains from £19 and desserts starting at just under £10. Dishes include baked squash, spelt, sage and Ticklemore salad; soused mackerel, fennel, cucumber and crème fraîche; steamed cockles with parsley butter; roasted celeriac, beetroot and lentil cottage pie; and Cambridge burnt cream. There’s also a carvery option which comprises a selection of roast meats with a choice of potatoes - dauphinoise, fries or aligot - seasonal greens and gravy all silver served at table. There's also a selection of bar snacks that can also be ordered downstairs, including haggis scotch egg, whisky mayonnaise; sausage roll with homemade brown sauce; and brown crab rarebit.
And another thing: The gentrification of London pubs in prime real estate is not a new phenomenon. However the now nine-strong Cubitt House and a number of other companies - including JKS Restaurants with its The Cadogan Arms and The George venues, and Artfarm, which has just reopened The Audley in Mayfair - are upping the ante.
