Now open: Mad Atelier’s tribute to The Lord Cecil

A rogue panther that roamed through the pub, a devastating fire, punters finding love across a crowded bar – there’s so many sweet, sad and downright bizarre tales from Clapton pub The Lord Cecil. When boutique Mad Atelier moved into the boozer after it had been empty for 12 years, they knew they wanted to honour the history of this unique space. Opening this week, the store’s London Design Festival show is the result.

Mad Atelier, the design boutique sister business of architecture practice MAD, moved into the premises in 2017 and its founders Chantal Martinelli and Julien Desormeaux have been collecting stories from the pub’s regulars ever since. For LDF the pair has transformed the store into a hybrid between East End boozer and Mediterranean-flavoured boutique, filled with furniture, decorative features, sounds and scents that each reflect a different facet of the Lord Cecil’s remembered past. Throughout the week the ‘pub’ will be serving up drinks, featuring traditional British spirits paired with Mediterranean mixers or spices and vice versa. Make sure to get a round in before last orders is called.

Read all about Mad Atelier’s origin story in this Q&A with founder Julien Desormeaux here.