The Audley Is the New London Restaurant Where Sausage Rolls Are Served Next to Warhols

There are no shortages of places to get a pint in London. There is only one, however, when you can drink it at a mahogany bar under a kaleidoscopic mosaic ceiling by artist Phyllida Barlow: The Audley Public House.

The Mayfair pub, which also features works by Martin Creed, Rodney Gram, and Don McCullin—as well as a mean roast beef sandwich with a gravy dip—is just the first distinctive space within a larger concept, called The Audley. Whereas multi-hyphenates are often used to describe people, it also applies to this wide-ranging 19th building which houses a restaurant and four private event rooms over its five floors: it’s a pub-restaurant-gallery-event space where culinary and artistic pursuits both take center stage.

The couple behind it all is Ivan and Manuela Wirth, the famous gallerists and founders of Hauser and Wirth. The Audley is the latest portfolio entry in their hospitality group, ArtFarm, which also includes the Fife Arms in Braemer and Durslade Farmhouse in Somerset. Their ethos? Presenting art not just in public, but entertaining places.

A corner of Mount St. Restaurant, complete with dining chairs by American artist Matthew Day Jackson.Photograph by Simon Brown

So when the former Audley Hotel became vacant, they asked Paris-based design and architecture studio Laplace to restore and reinvigorate the locale. Inspired by the Kronenhalle in Zurich, they crafted a contemporary oasis where artistic and gastronomic greatness seamlessly blend. “To present art in a restaurant is the greatest democracy of them all—our pub is so open and accessible to everyone,” says Ewan Venters, CEO of ArtFarm. “You can go in and have a sausage roll or a vegan pie and see a masterpiece of the walls.”

Or, indeed, on the floor. In Mount Street Restaurant, right above the Audley Public House, American artist Rashid Johnson has spectacularly executed a Palladiana mosaic floor made of various types of marble. Guests can sit upon the work, titled Broken Floor, while dining on elevated British dishes like lobster pie and smoked eel salad, all served by waiters in uniforms by female master Saville Row tailor Kathryn Sargent. (Hung on the walls? Art with food as the subject, including Andy Warhol’s Lobster and Lucien Freud’s A Plate of Prawns.)

A close-up of Rashid Johnson's Broken Floor (2022) at the Audley.Photo by Sim Canetty-Clarke

Walk three flights up, and you’ll find the Italian Room and Bar, which is inspired by grand palazzo interiors. Next door is the Swiss Room, which features a European oak floor, separately stained by artisan Ian Harper to resemble a watercolor by Sophie Taeuber-Arp. Venters, who originates from Scotland, admits he has a particular fondness for The Scottish Room, with its tartan detailing by Araminta Campbell, antler chandelier, an oak table featuring 38 Jacobite crockets that can sit up to 25. “I think it’s one of the most elegant tables in London,” says Venters. Rounding it all off is the Games Room in the attic, complete with a card table and a turret ceiling. (All together, they’re called the “Curious Rooms,” and are available for parties, events, and private dinners.)

The staff is trained to explain the art and design to any of those who inquire—but, Venters stresses, The Audley is not a formal environment. “It’s not a museum,” he says. “It’s about the enjoyment and the celebration of food. The art will just naturally expand people’s horizons.”