The Magdala Tavern in Hampstead, a pub with a sad past, now has a bright future after being closed for several years. The pub is famous as the place where Ruth Ellis – the last woman to be hanged in Britain – shot her lover David Blakely in 1955.
The Magdala, just a few yards from Hampstead Heath station, dates from the 1860s and was owned by a big London brewer, Charrington’s, that was bought and closed by an even bigger brewer, Bass of Burton-on-Trent. When Bass left brewing in 2000 the pub fell into the clutches of pub company Punch Taverns, who closed it in 2014. There were fears in the local community that Punch, true to form, would sell the building for redevelopment as private housing. But after three years of what the new owner, Dick Morgan, calls ‘tortuous negotiations’, the Magdala has opened its doors again.
Dick leases the Express Tavern in Kew and the Sussex Arms in Twickenham but his roots are in Hampstead. “I was born and grew up here,” he says. “My granddad lived opposite the Magdala and reopening the pub is a real home-coming for me.” He has spent £250,000 on restoring the pub and keeping its traditional look and feel. The two bars have wood-panelled and cream-painted walls, plush red banquettes, photos of famous visitors from yesteryear and partitions with etched Art Nouveau glass tops announcing ‘wine’, ‘ale’ and ‘gin’. Impressive tall stained glass windows flood the bars with light while lush green pot plants add to the Hampstead Heath atmosphere. “We’ve been careful to add a few modern details while keeping the old pub’s heart alive,” Dick says. “The most important aspect of any good pub is the community around it and we’re looking forward to welcoming everyone for a quiet coffee and read of the papers, a reunion lunch with the whole family or a few pints at the bar with friends.”
There’s no shortage of good beer. Cask ales include Draught Bass, Harvey’s Sussex Best Bitter and Purity Mad Goose. The Big Smoke Brew Company in Esher supplies both cask and keg beers and this adds to the family feel of the pub as the brewery is owned by Dick’s son James. Other breweries supplying the Magdala include Lost and Grounded, Burning Sky, Marble, Mad Squirrel and Wild Beer.
Bar snacks are available while full meals have a strong Italian influence thanks to head chefs Marcus Pitzus and Daniele Cotronei. Their dishes include orecchiette fresh pasta; broccoli and pine nut pesto; tomato panzanella salad and burrantina and chorizo and goats cheese arancini, along with such pub staples as bangers and mash and fish and chips. Sunday roasts are a speciality.
In the breast-beating style of Victorian Britain, the pub takes its name from a British military victory, the Battle of Magdala in 1868, when a British Expeditionary Force defeated the Abyssinian army in the fishing village of Magdala, close to the Red Sea. Magdala is believed to be the birthplace of Mary Magdalene.
The Magdala Tavern, 2 South Hill Park, Hampstead, NW3 2SB. Opens 11am Mon to Sat, 8am Sunday (for coffee and pastries).
Roger Protz