In 2018, we were commissioned to convert St Mark's Church in Mayfair into a cultural hub and sustainable community market. Working with Mercato Metropolitano, we transformed a Grade I listed Victorian church into Mercato Mayfair, a three-storey food and social enterprise market bringing together independent producers, local traders and the wider community.
“a glamorous affair… offering more of a relaxed and elegant vibe… a super spot”
Hot Dinners
The fit-out
The project presented a distinctive challenge: to weave the commercial energy of a working food market into a building of genuine architectural heritage, without sacrificing either.
The church’s original fabric was retained and restored, with the new food and beverage offer sensitively designed so that all fixtures could easily be reversed, while expressing the significant character features of the Grade I Listed building.
The Vaults
Beneath the nave lies one of the project’s most compelling spaces. The vaulted brick undercroft of St Mark’s Church had remained largely unseen for decades, and our work sought to bring it back into use without diminishing the raw architectural character that makes it so remarkable.
Working carefully within the constraints of the listed status, we introduced a wine cellar, the German Kraft microbrewery and a series of intimate dining and event spaces, allowing the original brickwork, vaulted ceiling structure and the quiet weight of the building’s two-hundred-year history to remain the defining presence in the room.
Behind the Design
1. Heritage, international gastronomy and societal engagement
Works run across three levels, from basement crypt to gallery, offering artisan producers and international cuisine within the restored building. The gallery links to an upper outdoor terrace.
The challenge lies in preserving one of London’s most significant Grade I interiors
2. From sacred space to shared table
From the outside, the concept plays the card of discretion, from a monumental columned porch which invites the visitor in but with no obvious sign of a culinary destination within. Only on approaching the entrance do signs reveal the concept. This breaks with traditional retail norms, where exterior visibility is paramount. Here, the experience begins as a gradual, almost exclusive discovery.
Communal dining
The market has fast become a destination in this part of the City. The accessible nature of the food and drink offering provides a unique experience for visitors that is not readily available in this higher-end area of London, especially in such a special heritage environment.
History in Context
1. What it used to be
St. Mark’s stood empty for decades before restoration revived it. Gandy Deering designed it in the 1820s; Blomfield later added its Gothic Revival interior.
The Diocese deconsecrated it in 1974; costs stalled new uses for decades. Grosvenor bought the freehold in 2014 to restore and reopen it.
In 2018, Grosvenor signed Mercato Metropolitano as anchor tenant, commissioning greig + stephenson Architects to convert it into a community food hall, keeping changes reversible and respecting its Grade I fabric. It reopened as Mercato Mayfair in 2019, after decades of closure.
2. The Vaults
The vaults required careful treatment to bring them into active public use, with the supporting commercial functions.
The lighting, ventilation, water and drainage were all carefully coordinated to preserve and enhance the building’s character and heritage, alongside the contemporary use.
Impact
1,077
Meals saved from waste through Too Good To Go partnership
2,154kg
CO2 saved through surplus food redistribution
Zero
Single-use plastic across the market
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