The trolley was invented for chess. In 1828 Samuel Reiss opened the Grand Cigar Divan on the Strand, a coffee room where gentlemen smoked, read the papers and played. In 1848 he went into partnership with the caterer John Simpson, who rebuilt the place, turned it towards hearty British dinners and brought in silver carving trolleys, devised so that service would not disturb the games. It became the hub of British chess. In 1851 Adolf Anderssen played the Immortal Game here, and messengers hurried the moves down the Strand to be telegraphed to Paris.
Richard D'Oyly Carte of the Savoy bought the business in 1898 and T E Collcutt rebuilt it in 1904 as Simpson's-in-the-Strand, and the room kept its habits. Women were not admitted to the street-level Grand Divan until 1984, and the clock above its doors, so the story goes, stopped when the first one walked in. A chessboard at the top of the main staircase still honours Staunton, Anderssen, Morphy, Steinitz and Lasker.
The dining room closed in March 2020, its fittings were auctioned off, and for six years that looked like the end. The revival belongs to Jeremy King, who founded The Wolseley and The Delaunay with Chris Corbin and says he first set his sights on Simpson's in 2000. Lunch and dinner returned to the Grand Divan on 3 March 2026, with Simpson's Bar, Nellie's Tavern below and Romano's upstairs following on.
The beef, and why to order it
Roast rib of Devonshire beef, carved at the table from the silver trolley by one of the Master Carvers. King and his long-time interiors collaborator, Shayne Brady, have returned the Grand Divan to its Edwardian self, all timber panelling, deep red velvet and leather and high-backed seating, and the beef is what the room was built around. The head chef, Ed Ross, came over from The Wolseley, as did David Stevens, the group executive chef, and the general manager, Michael Johnston, ran Brasserie Zédel. It is the old Corbin & King brigade, reassembled around a joint of beef.
The least fashionable dish in London, and in this room the only sensible order.
The rest of the Bill of Fare is worth knowing about: boiled ham with parsley sauce, railway mutton curry, Woolton pie, a daily pie, treacle tart and spotted dick with custard. Breakfast brings the Ten Deadly Sins, Cumberland sausage, bacon, black pudding, kidney and bubble and squeak on one plate, which makes a full English look restrained. Book the Grand Divan, let the carver do the talking, and keep the afternoon free.
