A London seafood restaurant is usually two businesses sharing a room: a raw bar that shucks oysters, and a kitchen that cooks. They keep different hours, and almost nobody tells you that.
Bentley’s publishes the clearest version of it. On a weekday its kitchen runs midday to half past three, then stops, then starts again at half four. In the hour between, the board says raw bar only. Turn up at four wanting fish and chips and you will be eating oysters instead.
That gap is the single most useful thing to understand about eating seafood in this city, and it explains the cheap oysters too.
The institution
Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill, Swallow Street
Shucking on the same Piccadilly street since 1916, now under Chef Patron Richard Corrigan.
Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill
- Address
- 11 to 15 Swallow Street, Piccadilly, W1B 4DG
- Nearest
- Piccadilly Circus, three minutes. Green Park, eight
- Hours
- Midday to 10pm every day. Kitchen Monday to Friday midday to 3.30pm, raw bar only 3.30pm to 4.30pm, then 4.30pm to 10pm. Saturday and Sunday the kitchen runs midday to 10pm straight through
- Booking
- Online through SevenRooms, or 020 7734 4756, or reservations@bentleys.org
- Standing
- Trading since 1916. Native oysters from the UK and Ireland, and an alfresco terrace
How to get in
The raw bar only window between half three and half four on weekdays is published, unusual and worth planning around in either direction: avoid it if you want a cooked lunch, aim for it if you want oysters and Champagne without a crowd. Saturday and Sunday are the days the kitchen runs straight through without the break, which is a change: the weekend used to stop earlier than the week. Fish and chips sits on the same menu as native oysters, which tells you the range. Jay Rayner is among those quoted on their own wall.
The one with pound oysters
Wright Brothers
A wholesaler that opened restaurants rather than the other way round, which is why the fish is what it is.
Wright Brothers
- Address
- Three sites: 11 Stoney Street at Borough Market SE1 9AD, 26 Circus in West Village at Battersea Power Station SW11 8EZ, and 56 Old Brompton Road, South Kensington SW7 3DY
- Nearest
- London Bridge, Battersea Power Station or South Kensington
- Booking
- Borough 020 7403 9554, Battersea 020 7324 7734, South Kensington 020 7581 0131
- Price
- Pound a Pop oysters at 1 pound each, with the windows now published site by site. Battersea Monday to Friday 3pm to 6pm and Sunday 6pm to 9pm. South Kensington Monday to Friday midday to 6pm and Sunday 4pm to 6pm, plus the Mermaid bar downstairs Thursday to Saturday 6pm to 7pm. Borough Market Monday to Wednesday 3pm to 6pm. None of it runs on bank holidays, Good Friday or Easter Monday
- Standing
- Supplying London restaurants with fish for over twenty years, and an online fishmonger alongside the restaurants
How to get in
One pound oysters used to be advertised with no times attached at all. They now publish them branch by branch, and the windows are narrow enough to plan a day around. The widest is South Kensington, midday to six on a weekday. The only evening one is Battersea on a Sunday, six to nine. Borough Market has the shortest, three to six and only Monday to Wednesday. They ask you to book, because the offer fills the room. Borough Market is the original. They also run oyster masterclasses with wine and Champagne pairings.
The one that holds tables back
Randall and Aubin, Brewer Street
Randall and Aubin
- Address
- 14 to 16 Brewer Street, Soho, W1F 0SQ
- Nearest
- Piccadilly Circus
- Hours
- Monday to Thursday midday to 11.30pm, last booking 9.30pm. Friday and Saturday to midnight, last booking 10.30pm. Sunday to 10.30pm, last booking 8.30pm
- Booking
- Online through SevenRooms, or 0207 287 4447, or info@randallandaubin.com. Their own line: they welcome walk ins and hold back tables every day
- Standing
- Thirty years in Soho, named by the Standard as one of London’s all time greatest restaurants
How to get in
The walk in commitment is explicit and daily, which in Soho at thirty years old is a real thing rather than a slogan. Fruits de mer, oysters and a daily changing menu built on classic French cooking. They also state that seating requests are not guaranteed, so if you want the counter rather than a table, ask and accept the answer. Good for pre theatre, and unusually good for eating alone.
How to use a seafood restaurant
Decide which of the two businesses you want before you pick a time. Raw bar means oysters, shellfish and Champagne and often runs all day. The kitchen means cooked fish and keeps restaurant hours with a gap in the afternoon.
Cheap oysters are a timing offer, not a price. Wright Brothers sell them at a pound but only in windows that differ at every branch, and the only evening slot in the group is Battersea on a Sunday. Read the window before you pick the site.
Native oysters are seasonal, rock oysters are not. The old rule about months with an R refers to natives. Bentley’s lists UK and Irish natives specifically, which is a different proposition from the rock oysters available year round.
Walk ins work better here than in most cuisines. Randall and Aubin hold tables back every day. A raw bar counter seat is very often available when the dining room is not.
One that has gone
Bonnie Gull, the seafood shack in Fitzrovia, is no longer trading and its web address now redirects to a gambling site. It still appears on a good number of London seafood lists. If you find it recommended, that recommendation has not been checked in a while.
Everything else here was taken from each restaurant’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Wright Brothers have since published the timings for their pound oysters, so this page now carries them. Confirm before you travel.
Where to go next
The restaurants guide holds the wider field. Borough Market covers the district around the original Wright Brothers, and Soho the streets around Randall and Aubin.
Fish and chips is the cheaper half of the same subject, and it turns on the same question of when a kitchen actually stops: London’s oldest chip shop asks for a full hour before closing time.
For the other cuisine guides built the same way: Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and pizza.
Questions we get asked
What are the best seafood restaurants in London?
Bentley’s Oyster Bar and Grill on Swallow Street, shucking since 1916 and now run by Richard Corrigan. Wright Brothers, which supplied London restaurants with fish for twenty years before opening its own, across Borough Market, Battersea and South Kensington. Randall and Aubin in Soho, thirty years old and holding tables back for walk ins every day.
Where can you get cheap oysters in London?
Wright Brothers run a Pound a Pop offer at one pound an oyster across their three sites, but they state that timings and availability depend on the location and they do not publish those timings anywhere. The link on their own site loops back to the same page. Telephone the specific branch and ask, because the saving is worth the call.
What does raw bar only mean?
That the kitchen is shut but the shucking counter is still working. Bentley’s publishes a raw bar only window between half past three and half past four every weekday, between its lunch and dinner kitchen services. In that hour you can eat oysters and shellfish but not anything cooked, which catches out people arriving for a late lunch.
Can you get seafood in London without booking?
More easily than most cuisines. Randall and Aubin on Brewer Street state plainly that they welcome walk ins and hold tables back every day. Raw bar counter seats are also frequently free when a dining room is full, because they turn over faster. Bentley’s is open from midday to late every day of the week.
When are oysters in season in London?
The months with an R rule applies to native oysters, not rock oysters, which are available all year. Bentley’s specifically lists native oysters from the UK and Ireland, which makes them a seasonal proposition. If a menu simply says oysters without qualifying it, they are most likely rock oysters.
Is Bonnie Gull still open?
No. The Fitzrovia seafood shack is no longer trading and its web address has lapsed, though it still appears on several London seafood round ups that have not been rechecked. If a guide recommends it, that is a sign the guide is out of date rather than a sign the restaurant is hard to find.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 112 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
