1666
Cliveden is built for the Duke of Buckingham; it becomes a hotel in 1985
1707
William Fortnum and Hugh Mason open a grocery in St James's Market Fortnum & Mason
1738
Fortnum & Mason claims the invention of the Scotch egg Fortnum & Mason
1756
Borough Market moves to its present site off Borough High Street ⚑ trade on the site is documented from the twelfth century Borough Market
1798
Thomas Rule opens Rules as an oyster bar — five owners in the 228 years since Rules
1834
Augustus Smith takes the lease of the Isles of Scilly and begins rebuilding Tresco
1837
James Brown, valet to Lord Byron, opens Brown's in Mayfair
1851
Scott's opens as an oyster warehouse in Coventry Street Scott’s
1863
The Arts Club founded on Dover Street by Dickens, Trollope and Lord Leighton The Arts Club
1865
The Langham opens as the largest and most modern hotel in London
1873
The Midland Grand opens at St Pancras, by George Gilbert Scott
1886
Fortnum's becomes the first shop in Britain to stock Heinz baked beans Fortnum & Mason
1889
The Savoy opens under Richard D'Oyly Carte — Britain's first luxury hotel: electric light throughout, electric lifts, private bathrooms The Savoy
1893
The American Bar opens at the Savoy — the oldest surviving cocktail bar in Britain American Bar, The Savoy
1897
Both are dismissed from the Savoy over missing wine and spirits The Savoy
1897
The Berkeley opens at Piccadilly; it moves to Knightsbridge in 1972
1898
Claridge's is rebuilt by the D'Oyly Carte company and reopens
1902
William Neatby tiles the Harrods meat hall for Doulton in nine weeks; a Viennese art journal compares it to a church Harrods Food Halls
1902
Harrods opens its food halls, tiled by W. J. Neatby Harrods Food Halls
1903
Ada Coleman becomes head bartender of the American Bar, holding the post until 1926 American Bar, The Savoy
1906
The Ritz London opens on 24 May by Mewès and Davis — a steel frame and a private bathroom in every room The Ritz London
1909
Harry Gordon Selfridge opens on Oxford Street with a Silence Room that sells nothing Selfridges
1909
Harry Gordon Selfridge opens on Oxford Street and puts cosmetics on the ground floor Selfridges
1910
Otto Goring opens the Goring; it remains the only London grand hotel still family-owned
1917
The Coburg is renamed the Connaught during the First World War
1929
Burgh Island Hotel opens off the Devon coast, built by Archibald Nettlefold — art deco on a tidal island reached by sea tractor
1930
Harry Craddock compiles The Savoy Cocktail Book American Bar, The Savoy
1931
The Dorchester opens on Park Lane, one of the first hotels built of reinforced concrete
1932
Burgh Island is extended; its restaurant still carries the Nettlefold name
1958
Gravetye Manor opens as a hotel in William Robinson's Elizabethan house and garden
1963
Mark Birley opens Annabel's at 44 Berkeley Square on 4 June Annabel’s & the Birley Clubs
1966
Chewton Glen opens in the New Forest
1968
Michael Chow opens Mr Chow in Knightsbridge on 14 February — Beijing food, Italian waiters, no chopsticks Mr Chow
1978
Anouska Hempel opens Blakes in South Kensington — the first designer hotel
1979
Cecconi's opens in Mayfair Cecconi’s
1979
Neal's Yard Dairy opens in Covent Garden and begins buying from named farmhouse makers Neal’s Yard Dairy
1985
The Groucho Club opens at 45 Dean Street on 5 May The Groucho Club
1986
Keith Haring paints Mr Chow as Green Prawn in a Bowl of Noodles Mr Chow
1987
Olympia & York sign the £3 billion master building agreement for Canary Wharf Canary Wharf, London
1991
The Lanesborough opens in the former St George's Hospital on Hyde Park Corner
1992
Susan Harmsworth founds ESPA ESPA
1995
The Barclay brothers buy the Ritz London The Ritz London
1998
Cowshed is born in the old cow shed at Babington House — the only space available for a spa, and the name sticks Cowshed
2001
Alan Yau opens Hakkasan at Hanway Place in April Hakkasan
2002
Rainer Becker and Arjun Waney open Zuma in Knightsbridge Zuma
2002
Sketch opens on Conduit Street in December Sketch
2002
Azumi Restaurant Group is founded; Zuma, ROKA and Oblix follow Azumi Restaurant Group
2003
Queen Mary 2 enters service, and remains the only ocean liner in scheduled transatlantic crossing
2005
Soho House takes over Cecconi's Cecconi’s
2005
Carole Bamford opens the first Bamford Haybarn at Daylesford Bamford Wellness Spa
2005
Prince Alwaleed's Kingdom Holding buys the Savoy; Fairmont takes management The Savoy
2007
Mark Birley sells the Birley clubs to Richard Caring in June; dies two months later Annabel’s & the Birley Clubs
2008
The Connaught Bar opens, designed by David Collins Connaught Bar
2010
The Savoy reopens on 10 October after a £220m rebuild — the costliest hotel renovation on record The Savoy
2010
Coworth Park opens in Ascot under the Dorchester Collection
2011
Dinner by Heston opens at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park Dinner by Heston Blumenthal
2011
Novikov opens in Mayfair — the first outside Russia Novikov
2012
Robin Birley opens 5 Hertford Street in June 5 Hertford Street
2012
Coya opens in London Coya
2015
Sexy Fish opens on Berkeley Square, 19 October Sexy Fish
2016
Beaverbrook opens in Lord Beaverbrook's Surrey house
2017
THG buys ESPA for a reported £100m ESPA
2017
The American Bar is named World's Best Bar in the 50 Best, at 124 years old American Bar, The Savoy
2018
Heckfield Place opens in a Georgian house in Hampshire after a decade of restoration
2019
Sketch's Lecture Room takes three stars — Mazouz the first African restaurateur to hold three Sketch
2019
Kin House opens in Wiltshire, let whole
2019
The Newt opens in Somerset, built around a working cider farm and garden
2020
The Connaught Bar named World's Best Bar; again in 2021 Connaught Bar
2020
The Ritz London closes for the first time since 1906, then sells to Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri in March The Ritz London
2021
Tao Group acquires Hakkasan Hakkasan
2022
Lanserhof at The Arts Club opens in Mayfair Lanserhof at The Arts Club
2022
Artfarm buys the Groucho Club for £40m in August The Groucho Club
2022
Battersea Power Station opens to the public in October, its chimneys rebuilt to look the same Battersea Power Station, London
2022
Estelle Manor opens at Eynsham Hall in Oxfordshire
2023
Raffles London opens in the Old War Office on Whitehall
2025
Hakkasan's original Hanway Place closes permanently in February Hakkasan
2025
Mohari separates Hakkasan Group out again in September Hakkasan
2025
DIAFA takes a strategic stake in Azumi in October Zuma
2026
DIAFA acquires the Caring group for £1.4bn in April — Ivy, Caprice, Birley The Ivy
2027
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal closes at the end of January, at sixteen years Dinner by Heston Blumenthal