Formula for success: Petra Ecclestone on London

Petra Ecclestone, daughter of legendary billionaire entrepreneur and ‘F1 supremo’ Bernie Ecclestone, is not like other heiresses: she doesn’t seek the limelight and would much rather be hard at work on her own business than throwing herself in front of tabloid cameras. Having already struck gold with her menswear range, Form, she’s now launching a ‘fun, funky’, more affordable range for women as well - the appropriately titled Petra. In the middle of all this,  she found time to talk to us about her London property and her favourite haunts.

HOME BASE

I live in London - I have a house in Eaton Square. I really like the area as it’s close to the King’s Road and Mayfair. There’s loads of cute little shops and nice restaurants, as well as a few pubs. There’s a really good Chinese restaurant nearby on Ebury Street that I always go to, called Memories Of China. I love the shredded beef there.

EATING OUT

I love Nobu (a Japanese restaurant on Old Park Lane and Berkeley Street) and La Petite Maison (on Brooks Mews, next to Claridges) if I’m with my family. I like to go to Nobu with friends - I love the baked mushroom with truffle, as well as the vegetables and the tempura. I don’t really have a place I go to for breakfast: I never have time, I just grab something on the go!

PUBS AND BARS

I go to Tramp nightclub, on Jermyn Street - it’s a private members club but my boyfriend loves it there. I also go to Movida in Soho. I always have a really good time at a club called Maddox (Mill Street) and I love the Cuckoo Club (Swallow Street). It’s fun on a Friday night, they play a lot of house and R’n’B.

WITH MY FAMILY

I love going to the park with my family, especially Hyde Park, or sometimes we go to the Saatchi Gallery. We like to go to the Electric Cinema (on Portobello Road), and we quite often go to a Chinese restaurant in Mayfair called Kai, which is really good. Hyde Park is my favourite as I have five dogs, so it’s great for going out walking with them on a Sunday morning. I have two Bulldogs - a boy and a girl, called Sumo and Lola - a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel called Coco, a Boxer named Rocky and a Maltipoo - which is a cross between a Maltese and a poodle - called Bugsy. I love dogs!

SHOPPING

In London, I love Matches (on Ledbury Road), Joseph (Old Bond Street) and a shop called Mimi on the Kings Road that has all the new designers. I like going to Harvey Nichols and Harrods, and I really love going to vintage shops. The best place for vintage shops is around the Portobello/Notting Hill area - it’s something you should definitely take a good day out to do. You need to take a lot of time for vintage shopping, you can’t just browse quickly and run out.

MUST DO

If someone was visiting London for the first time, I guess I would make them go to Madame Tussauds, because I did it when I was younger and I really enjoyed it. I’m not great with visiting the major London tourist attractions… I’d tell them to visit some of the museums, although if it was a girl friend I’d definitely just take them shopping!

The new winter collection from FORM is available at all Matches Boutiques: www.formclothing.co.uk