
Reopening today: Maggie’s which gained its name from Princess Margaret back in the Swinging Sixties. Photo by Shapersofthe80s
❚ BEST NEWS OF THE WEEK is to hear of the return of a legendary restaurant… The place I grew up in when eating out was cheap and cheerful, and the one that confirmed my taste for classic British farmyard food was Maggie Jones’s which closed over two years ago following a fire. Now it reopens after a total gutting and returns with all those baskets and flowers and rural tools hanging from the ceilings, but best of all those high-backed wooden booths guaranteeing privacy for you and your loved one(s).
Which is why, soon after its opening in 1964, Princess Margaret popped in routinely from nearby Kensington Palace, using the name Maggie Jones for anonymity – being wife to Anthony Armstrong Jones at that time, later created Lord Snowdon. There she established a celebrity haunt for her circle of aristos and socialites such as Peter Sellers and various extra-marital lovers as her marriage unravelled. Most recently it has been owned and managed for more than two decades by Christine and husband Greg. – Welcome back.
➢ Find Maggie Jones’s at 6 Old Court Place, off Kensington Church Street, London W8 4PLL














