Quo Vadis was founded in 1926 by an Italian, Pepino Leoni. He bought No 26 Dean St for the princely sum of £700. When he started Leoni had just seven tables on the ground floor with his family living upstairs. Over the next 15 years he gradually bought Nos 27, 28 and 29 Dean St so that by the outbreak of World War2 the restaurant frontage looked almost identical to how it looks today.
Leoni was interred on the Isle of Man during the War and rented Quo Vadis to Indian restaurateurs. However on his release, he reopened his beloved restaurant where he continued trading for almost 30 years. The restaurant passed through several owners between Leoni’s departure and our arrival, most notably Marco Pierre White, who installed the beautiful stained glass windows.
On a separate note Karl Marx lived in squalid conditions on the 3rd floor, where he wrote Das Kapital, before moving to more salubrious lodgings in Hampstead.
We feel truly privileged to work in such a historic building!
