If you find yourself wandering down London’s Mount Street this week—past the windows of its glitzy boutiques, packed with mannequins and ribbon-tied pastry boxes—your curiosity may be piqued by an intriguing new addition. On the corner of South Audley Street sits an unusually expansive outdoor terrace (the largest in Mayfair, it turns out), trimmed with manicured miniature hedges and shaded by an elegant deep blue awning, at which diners can be glimpsed through the gaps tucking into delicately arranged plates of Cornish crab ravioli and prawn-stuffed courgette flowers.
But the element most likely to grab your attention? The pair of German Shepherds guarding the entrance—which, upon further inspection, reveal themselves as bronze sculptures.
Photo: Milo Brown
It might be the first playful dog-related detail you see when arriving at the newly renovated member’s club George, but it certainly won’t be the last. Breeze through the entrance area and there’s every chance you’ll be greeted by its resident dachshund, George—an homage to the club’s namesake, the dog owned by London nightlife maverick Mark Birley. Birley founded the Mayfair institution back in 2001, but his portfolio of clubs, including the extravagantly designed and reliably star-studded Annabel’s, was purchased by hospitality mogul Richard Caring in 2007. Caring, in turn, not only oversaw the 18-month refurbishment of George but designed it alongside his wife, Patricia.