In London, England, a restaurant called Rules opened in 1798. That’s 228 years ago! John Mayhew owns the building that houses Rules. He is donating the structure to the National Trust. That group will preserve the eatery. Will it stay open for a few more centuries?

Thomas Rule first opened the restaurant as an oyster bar. It survived the city’s bombing during World War II. Famous people ate there. Writer Charles Dickens visited in the 1800s. Actor Charlie Chaplin came in the 1900s.

Going into the restaurant is like stepping back into old-time London. Want something savory? Some visitors gobble steak and kidney pies. Others chow down on guinea fowl. For dessert, there’s sticky toffee pudding and apple crumble. 

The restaurant can hold around 90 guests. Many people come before or after a visit to one of several theaters nearby.

“There are few restaurants in the world that have endured the test of time like Rules,” Mr. Mayhew says. “The Trust will protect this place in a way that no one else could.”

The donation includes menus, photographs, stained glass, and signs. It also includes the annual rent that the restaurant pays to operate there.

The National Trust describes the building as a “rare example of living heritage.” That means that both the historic building and the restaurant business inside will stay the same.

Ricky McMenemy owns the restaurant. He has worked there since 1989. He is also pleased with the donation.

“Our home will be in very good hands,” he says. 

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. — 2 Corinthians 5:1