Dylan Thomas lost the only existing manuscript of his masterpiece, Under Milk Wood, in The French House on Dean Street in Soho. He left it behind after a heavy drinking session in the pub that was then called the York Minster. The landlord spotted the pages on a seat and tucked them safely behind the … Read more
London is losing pubs at the rate of one every five days. In the first quarter of alone, 17 London pubs shut their doors permanently. Across the UK, the figure is even starker: nearly two pubs closed every single day in the same period, according to data from the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA). … Read more
Walk into any decent pub in Soho on a Tuesday evening and you will find the same thing that has drawn people here for three centuries: a room full of strangers arguing about something that does not matter, bonded by a shared refusal to go home. Nowhere in London does pub culture feel more alive, … Read more
Walk down Broadwick Street in Soho today and you might stroll right past a seemingly ordinary Victorian pub called the John Snow. Tucked between fashion boutiques and coffee shops, it looks like hundreds of other historic London watering holes. But this unassuming pub carries one of the most remarkable stories in medical history, a tale … Read more
There is something deeply British about the idea that your best work happens in a pub. Conversations start over a pint. Ideas are sketched on beer mats. Friendships are forged at the bar. So when creators Andrew Kay and Nic Doodson sat in a Soho pub watching strangers bond over impromptu sing-alongs, they did not … Read more
Walk down any street in Soho today and you will pass buildings that have stood for centuries, serving pints through revolutions, bombings, and cultural transformations. The story behind Soho’s oldest surviving pubs is not just about beer and brickwork. It is about how a patch of central London became one of the most vibrant drinking … Read more
Picture this: it is 1984, and the Coach and Horses on Greek Street is so thick with cigarette smoke that you can barely see the bar. Jeffrey Bernard is holding court in the corner, three drinks deep before lunchtime. Francis Bacon has just left a wad of cash behind the bar at the Colony Room. … Read more
Soho in the 1950s and 60s was the beating heart of bohemian London, and at its centre sat three legendary watering holes where the greatest figurative painters of the 20th century came to drink, argue, and create. The pubs where Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud drank in Soho formed what regulars called the Bermuda Triangle … Read more
Soho has always attracted writers, rebels, and dreamers. Among its narrow streets and neon signs sits a small Victorian pub that punches well above its weight in literary history. The Dog and Duck, tucked away on Bateman Street, is one of London’s most quietly significant cultural landmarks. But how did a pub named after a … Read more
Walk down Old Compton Street on a Friday evening in , and you will hear the Admiral Duncan before you see it. Music spills onto the pavement through doors propped open regardless of the weather. Drag queens pose for photos with passing tourists. Regulars cluster on the corner with pints in hand, watching Soho’s endless … Read more