The November 2026 issue of PBA Magazine — travel, culture and the art of living well. Published by Paradise Bay Advisors. Explore more and subscribe at pba.ag.
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- CoverN O V E M B E R 2 0 2 6
- PBA MagazineT W O P O R T S O F C A L L 60 N
- PBA MagazineI N T H I S I S S U E Contents 05
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- PBA MagazineT H E TA B L E S O H O L O N D O N Th e Cham pagne Bar in th e 1 9 2 0s ti l e d lob by F E AT U R E W H E R E L O N D O N TA L K S Q U I E T L Y Kettner’s
- PBA MagazineT H E TA B L E K E T T N E R ʼ S T H E S T O R Y A room that keeps its secrets
- PBA MagazineT H E S TAY L E I C E S T E R S Q U A R E T H E S TAY
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- Page 14P B A A G
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PBA Magazine
T H E TA B L E K E T T N E R ʼ S
T H E S T O R Y A room that keeps its secrets
A uguste Kettner, a German-born chef who had cooked for Napoleon III, opened his restaurant at 29 Romilly Street in 1867. It was among the first in London to serve French food, and it soon became the place where Soho’s discretion was most useful. Edward VII is said to have courted the actress Lillie Langtry here; the regulars who followed included Oscar Wilde, Agatha Christie and Winston Churchill.
The room survived the Blitz and, less glamorously, the 1980s, when Pizza Express founder Peter Boizot bought the building and dough balls were served under its cornices. Soho House bought Kettner’s in 2016 and reopened it as a townhouse, turning the old private dining rooms upstairs into 33 bedrooms.
For a time the restaurant was for members and hotel guests only. It opened to the public again in 2023, and in 2024 the French bistro menu came back. The building has done most of the work of keeping its character: Georgian floorboards, an 18th-century spiral staircase, William Morris wallpaper in the bedrooms, and a dining room lit mostly by sconces and white taper candles.
Upstairs one of the 33 bedrooms
W H AT T O O R D E R
Cheese soufflé Steak tartare, toasted brioche Poulet aux morilles Côte de boeuf, to share
W O R T H K N O W I N G
Two velvet booths sit at the back. The tables are set for privacy, not for being seen.
The Champagne Bar can be hired for drinks receptions and private parties.
Rooms run from small to the Jacobean Suite, which has its own entrance. Overnight guests stay as temporary members.
Open dai ly fr o m 7 : 3 0am