The Duke of Connaught: Cubitt House Plans a Belgravia Pub With Rooms
Belgravia is getting a new place to stay, and it comes with a bar downstairs. Cubitt House, the group behind some of the area's best-loved pubs, has revealed plans for The Duke of Connaught at 6 Eccleston Street, in the neighbourhood's former post office building. If planning permission is granted, it will combine a pub, a first-floor restaurant and ten hotel bedrooms, giving SW1W a pub with rooms in the classic London mould.
A name with history
The name is not invented. The building was once The Duke of Connaught's Soldiers and Sailors Home, with bedrooms, a bar and a billiard room, so the new scheme returns it to something close to its original purpose. Eccleston Street runs down towards Victoria through a quiet residential stretch that has gained a strong food and drink scene in recent years thanks to Eccleston Yards and its neighbours.
The plans
- Ground and lower ground floors: the bar.
- First floor: a restaurant built around a chophouse-style grill, with steaks and grilled whole fish.
- Above: ten hotel rooms.
Ben Tish, Cubitt House's chef director, will oversee an all-day menu. According to Hot Dinners, which broke the news, breakfast is set to include a mixed grill, steak and eggs with green sauce and a Duke of Connaught Full English, with breakfast Scotch eggs at the bar and a Sunday roast to follow.
Who is behind it
Cubitt House already runs The Alfred Tennyson on Motcomb Street and The Thomas Cubitt on Elizabeth Street, as well as The Orange on Pimlico Road, which is one of the group's pubs with bedrooms. Its portfolio also stretches to Mayfair, Marylebone, Chelsea and Notting Hill. That track record matters: the group knows how to run a busy neighbourhood pub that also works for hotel guests, which is a harder balance than it looks.
Why it matters for local hotels
Belgravia and Knightsbridge are dominated by large five-star hotels, so a ten-room pub with rooms would be a welcome addition at a different scale and, most likely, a different price point. It would suit visitors who want to feel part of the neighbourhood rather than insulated from it, and families visiting friends in SW1 who prefer a pint and a roast to a grand lobby.
When can you stay?
Not yet. Plans are still progressing and depend on planning permission, and no firm opening date has been set, with early reports pointing to anything from later this year to 2027. In the meantime, the group's existing Belgravia pubs remain the best way to sample its approach, and The Orange on Pimlico Road already offers a taste of what a Cubitt House stay looks like.
Getting there
Eccleston Street is a short walk from Victoria station and about ten minutes from Sloane Square. We will update once dates and room details are confirmed. For places to stay right now, see our hotels guide, and for dining nearby, our restaurant guide.
Lead image: Anthony O'Neil via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
