London Life Need to know Shop of the month

Jeeves of Belgravia, 8–10, Pont Street, SW1

ONCE, at a Mayfair club, a server dropped a chicken masala over my shoulder and the upshot was a paidfor visit to Jeeves of Belgravia on Pont Street. The dry cleaner has held a Royal Warrant since 1980 and has a reputation for troubleshooting: the racks are hung with heritage mending, scuffed Chanel handbags and Nice Things worn when eating hot dogs. Jeeves manufactures its own stain remover (travel size and regular), as well as Wool and Cashmere Shampoo and Gentleman’s Laundry Liquid.

Open Monday to Saturday, 9am–6pm (020–7235 1101; www.jeevesofbelgravia.com)

Seasonal suggestions

Go now

The V&A’s ‘DIVA’ exhibition, opening June 24, shines a light on divas across history, from Maria Callas to Tina Turner (right) and Elton John. Highlights include Bob Mackie’s designs and a dress worn by Marilyn Monroe (www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/diva)

‘Paul McCartney, Photographs 1963–64: Eyes of the Storm’ launches at the newly opened National Portrait Gallery (‘A fresh face’, page 97 ) on June 28 with never-beforeseen images taken during The Beatles’ meteoric rise to fame (www.npg.org.uk/ whatson/exhibitions/2023/paul-mccartneyphotographs-1963-eyes-of-the-storm)

Musical comedy Operation Mincemeat based on a daring, Second World War military deception—has opened at the Fortune Theatre to rave reviews. Tickets from £19.50 (www.operationmincemeat.com)

Book ahead

A handful of tickets to FANE’s An Evening with Rory Stewart (left) at The Barbican, EC2, on September 4, is currently available (www.barbican.org.uk)

Tickets for the Wyndham Theatre’s 2024 production of Long Day’s Journey into Night, starring Succession’s Brian Cox, are on sale now (www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk)

New restaurants

Following an extensive refurbishment, the Hockney-clad George Club is once again open. It claims Mayfair’s largest outdoor terrace and offers an inspired menu from chef Marcus Eaves (www.georgeclub.com)

The first shop opened in 1969, three years after one of the original owners, Sydney Jacob, wrote to P. G. Wodehouse’s literary agent and asked to borrow the name of the cure-all butler from his novels. The response from the agent, Hilary Rubinstein, is on the wall in Pont Street: ‘I am glad to say I have heard from Mr Wodehouse this morning that he is quite happy about your using the name “Jeeves” as a trading name in your new business adventure and good luck to it.’ Jo Rodgers

A green space

Exchange Square, Broadgate, EC2

THIS busy square tucked away behind Liverpool Street Station ( page 110) demonstrates the power of good design. Once an uninspiring rectangle of grass, it has now (thanks to a collaboration between DSDHA architects and FFLO landscape architects) been transformed into an inviting arena— a place to visit rather than merely pass through.

Here’s looking at London’s languages

• London has always been one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, attracting invaders and settlers, economic migrants and refugees. Today, more than 300 languages are spoken across the capital

• When the Romans invaded and later settled, they brought their Latin tongue with them. It quickly became the principal language in Roman towns, but people living in rural areas stuck to the old Celtic language

• Old French was the mother tongue of every British king between 1066 and 1413, then, in the late 17th century, Huguenots (French Protestants) came to London to escape religious persecution in France. They brought with them their skills (silk weaving, metalwork, engraving) and their language. The former lasted much longer—French silk-weaving survived into the 1900s—and a single Huguenot church, French Church in Soho Square (above), remains from an original 23

• A Chinese ‘chop book’, on display at the Museum of London, suggests that dock