Fiena

Italian restaurant near the Postal Museum and Mail RailFiena on Judd Street

4 min readBy Fiena

Under the streets of Clerkenwell runs a tiny railway that once carried London's post, and today you can ride it. The Postal Museum and Mail Rail are at 15-20 Phoenix Place, London WC1X 0DA, and Fiena, our family-run Italian cafe, bar and restaurant at 4 Medway Court, Judd Street, London WC1H 9QX, is about a kilometre away, roughly a 14-minute walk. Here's a little about the museum, the walk, and how to fit in breakfast or dinner.

In this story

The railway under London
Planning your visit
The walk
Breakfast before the first ride
Lunch or an early dinner after

The railway under London

The Post Office Railway, known since 1987 as Mail Rail, is a narrow-gauge, driverless underground railway built to carry mail between sorting offices without getting stuck in road traffic. It opened in 1927 and ran for 76 years, until 2003, along a 6½-mile line from Paddington to Whitechapel with eight stations, the largest under the Mount Pleasant sorting office. The rails are only 2 feet apart, and the main tunnel lies around 70 feet below the street.

In September 2017 a one-kilometre stretch at Mount Pleasant reopened for passengers as part of the new Postal Museum, which had opened on 28 July that year. Background from Wikipedia's pages on the Post Office Railway and the Postal Museum.

Planning your visit

The Postal Museum is open Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 to 17:00, and the last Mail Rail ride is at 16:00. The museum and Mail Rail are in two separate buildings on Phoenix Place, and the museum asks you to head to Mail Rail first, arriving just before the time on your ticket. Booking ahead is recommended, as weekends and busy periods can sell out. A ticket includes a year's access to the museum and one Mail Rail ride on your first visit, and the museum suggests allowing 2 to 3 hours, or 4 during school holidays. Note that it's closed on Sunday 18 October for a relaxed event. Check the Postal Museum visit page for tickets and the latest times.

The walk

From Phoenix Place, head west to Gray's Inn Road, then on through the quieter streets towards Judd Street and 4 Medway Court, where you'll see our terrace and outdoor tables. It's about 1,050 metres, around 14 minutes on foot (route from OpenStreetMap). King's Cross St Pancras is under a mile from the museum too, so Fiena is easy to fit in on the way to or from a train.

Breakfast before the first ride

The museum opens at 10:00, and we open at 08:00 every day, with breakfast until 14:00. On our breakfast menu: the Fiena English breakfast; the Classic Benedict with ham, Florentine or Royale with smoked salmon; The Fiena Tower of pancake, crispy bacon, scrambled egg, hash brown, maple syrup and seasonal fruit; and Tiramisu French toast. There's a full coffee list and daily squeezed juices too. See our posts on breakfast until 2pm and eggs Benedict.

Breakfast at Fiena on green marble: an egg skillet, a granola and fruit bowl, eggs Benedict and fresh orange juice

Martin wrote after breakfast with us: Thank you all for making our stay in London one we will remember. (Martin B., Google review) And Celia called us A hidden gem not far from Kings Cross or Euston (Celia F., Google review).

Lunch or an early dinner after

The museum closes at 17:00, and our main menu runs from midday until close: pizzas like the Margherita and Capricciosa, pasta from spaghetti carbonara to the creamy Linguine Fiena, risotto, grills and fish, then tiramisu or three scoops of gelato. Families are welcome, and there are mocktails like the Lady in Red and a Virgin mojito; our post on family-friendly dining has tips.