Luce e Limoni Sicilian Italian restaurant is on Gray’s Inn Road, central London, just a stone’s throw from the Charles Dickens Museum on Doughty Street.
In the popular imagination, London is still very much linked to the works of Charles Dickens. You might not know this, but the great man spent a year or so travelling around Italy with his family and wrote about it his travelogue “Pictures from Italy”. A tenuous link for sure, but we find it apt that his old home at 48 Doughty Street in Bloomsbury is just around the corner from our Sicilian Italian restaurant on Gray’s Inn Road. Dickens’ old house has a blue plaque marking the spot where he lived from 1837 to 1839 and where he wrote some of his early classics, like Oliver Twist. It houses the Dickens Museum these days and well worth a visit, after which you can pop over to Luce e Limoni for a bite to eat!
Dickens moved into 48 Doughty Street from Furnival Chambers in Holborn in March 1837, paying a hefty £80 a year in rent. This was a big step up for him—he’d grown up in a rougher area, Somers Town—but by then he had the success of The Pickwick Papers to thank for his new wealth. The first part of Pickwick had come out in March 1836.
During his time at Doughty Street, Dickens not only finished The Pickwick Papers, but also wrote Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby, and started Barnaby Rudge. He made connections with notable people in the arts, including actor William Charles Macready and writer Thomas Carlyle. Dickens even became a member of the prestigious Garrick and Athenaeum clubs. Carlyle described him as a “quiet, shrewd-looking, little fellow” who seemed to have a good grasp of people.
Dickens lived at the house on Doughty Street with his wife Catherine and her younger sister, Mary Hogarth. Sadly, Mary died suddenly that same year at just 17, in Dickens’ arms. Her death devastated him, and for a time, he couldn’t write—the only break in his long writing career. Two of his daughters, Mary and Kate, were born during the family’s time at Doughty Street. But soon, thanks to the success of Nickleby, Dickens was able to move his growing family to a bigger place, in Marylebone.
Today, 48 Doughty Street is home to the Dickens Museum. The exterior is mostly unchanged since Dickens’ time, and inside you’ll find plenty to interest any Dickens fan, including the desk where he wrote many of his famous works. A short stroll from the museum is Luce e Limoni Sicilian Italian restaurant on Grays Inn Road. Dickens made some interesting observations – some positive, some not – about Italy, but we like to think he would have approved of our fine menu and excellent service!
You’ll find us at 91-93 Gray’s Inn Road, Chancery Lane, London WC1X 8TX
Call Us 020 724 23382 | Email Us flavours@luceelimoni.com