Although this pub is not a listed building it is one of London’s Real Heritage Pubs, ie it is on CAMRA’s London Regional Inventory of Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest, and the description is as follows: “In a back street in the heart of exclusive Mayfair, this Young’s pub, often very busy, occupies a three-storey brick building with a prominent oriel window. The front windows have etched glass bearing the name of the pub and the highly suspect intelligence that it was ‘Established 1423’ (when Mayfair was little more than ploughed fields). Its chief interest lies in the evidence of the way Victorian pubs were subdivided. On the left the door glass identifies a ‘private bar’ while that on the right mentions a ‘lounge bar’. And inside there is the very rare survival of a screen on the left-hand side which still retains its door. Screens like this were absolutely standard equipment in thousands of London pubs. The right-hand side would have had a screen between the front and rear areas (note how the ceiling differs: boarded at the front, plain plaster at the rear). The Victorian bar counter, with panelling and console brackets, remains as do parts of the bar-back. The restaurant area at the back left has old panelling and has probably long been a pub room.

History in the area: The affluent area of Mayfair is owned by several landlords including the Grosvenor family and the Crown. It was named after an annual fair held in May. Bruton Place itself housed stables and coach houses for the wealthy residents of Berkeley Square and Bruton Street. The area is famous for tailoring and the sale of jewellery.”

The Guinea featured on the Compact and Bijou: Evening Crawl of Mayfair in April 2012.