In the world of television sitcoms, pubs have been a regular fixture since the 1950s. A number of London based sitcoms have featured notable examples, such as the Nag’s Head, the Crown, the Mucky Duck or the Royal Oak. All these pubs were regular meeting points for the main characters, yet in reality these pubs never existed. When sitcoms used to be produced in the studio before a live audience, a mock-up interior of a pub was used with varying degrees of realism, depending on the budget. Over the years, television companies have gone to various lengths to give added authenticity to these mock pubs, from featuring brief exterior shots of real pubs, even though it was obvious that the interiors and exteriors rarely matched, to filming extensively on location. Consequently, a number of pubs across London have featured in sitcoms over the years.
For instance, the Crown in Men Behaving Badly is depicted as a grotty and squalid one-room pub, yet, when the exterior appears in the episode The Good Pub Guide, the Greyhound in Hammersmith was utilized, even though its expansive multi-level structure is at odds with the studio interiors. Likewise with Sam Tyler’s local in Three Up, Two Down. In the episode Love and Death, the Swan in Chiswick was used for exterior shots, which was evidentially an afterthought. The Nag’s Head in Only Fools & Horses is the most noteworthy offender. Several pubs were used as exteriors, such as the Three Johns in Angel in the episodes It Never Rains and Diamonds Are for Heather, the Prince Arthur, North Kensington, in Hole in One and the Middlesex Arms in Ruislip in Miami Twice: The American Dream. There were as many continuity gaffes as Trigger had brooms. Sporadically though, in sitcoms where a pub is the central premise, not only is there a greater use of location filming but more effort was put into the design of the studio-based interiors. For example, Turner’s Old Star, Wapping, (notably purchased by artist Joseph Turner for his mistress Sophia Booth in 1829), was used for exterior shots for the consistently rebuilt pub in World of Pub. The studio-based interior is a faithful reconstruction of the real pub, even down to the stained-glass windows and distinctive L-shaped bar-counter replete with pillars supporting a gantry.
In recent decades sitcoms have moved away from the studio and single-camera setups and filming entirely on location has become commonplace. An early example of this is the Three Hammers, Mill Hill, which features in the climatic scenes of the Birds of a Feather episode Sisters Are Doing It (first broadcast in 1992) when Tracy’s philandering boss Bill takes her out to lunch. Latterly, in the Only Fools & Horses prequel series Rock & Chips, the Pelton Arms, Greenwich, was utilized to represent the Nag’s Head, redressed to resemble a pub in the early Sixties. This backstreet pub, dating from 1844, has retained many of its original Victorian features, making it a suitable choice for filming.
Another pub that has appeared in a number of sitcoms is the Chandos Arms, Colindale, a roadhouse pub built in 1937 that nowadays is a popular local venue frequently hosting a number of live music events. It featured in three episodes of Friday Night Dinner where it stood in for Jonny and Adam’s unfriendly local pub the Black Boy and as the Lord Carrington in the Peep Show episode Man Jam when Super Hans invites Jeremy to join his band in a gig.
The latter example boasts the most examples of London pubs featuring in any sitcom, around seven in total, with the Oval Tavern, Croydon, appearing the most times in three episodes. Notably, in the episode Sectioning, a pub is offered for sale to Mark, Jeremy and Super Hans; they have a long debate about its new name and ultimately settle on the Swan & Paedo. The pub scenes were shot on location at the Mitre Tavern, Croydon, which was closed at the time of filming and subsequently demolished in 2011.
Across London, a good number of pubs have featured in various sitcoms. Some sadly have since closed but there are many that are still open, giving fans the opportunity to have a drink at the locations of their favourite shows and, for those with a penchant for adventure, the perfect excuse for a themed pub crawl.
Readers might like to check out my interactive map that lists the locations of all known pubs that have appeared in British sitcoms over the years. Just Google ‘sitcom pubs’.
Mike Goldwater