Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill

Oysters have been shucked at 11-15 Swallow Street since 1916, at the marble-topped bar that still runs the length of Bentley's ground floor. Richard Corrigan bought the restaurant in 2005 and refurbished it, and it has kept its two characters: the Oyster Bar below, and the Grill Room above it, where original Victorian windows look over Swallow Street towards Regent Street and the walls carry William Morris fabric and blue leather. A heated, covered terrace runs alongside the building through the year.

Events are held upstairs, across four private rooms. The largest, the Swallow Street Rooms, is the work of the set designer Anna Lynch-Robinson: coral and gold, book-lined, with its own marble bar, an upright piano, a private bathroom and cloakroom, and a licence that runs to 3am. It seats 60 on rounds or 30 at a single table, and takes 100 for a canape reception. It divides into two rooms, the Mersea Room and the Swallow Library, for smaller parties, and the Mersea keeps its own street entrance.

The others are quieter. The Rib Room sits on the first floor under three sash windows, and the Crustacea Room, the smallest, is hung with paintings from Corrigan's own collection. Bentley's holds its own wedding licence, and the Mersea Room is laid for ceremonies as well as receptions.