On Saturday 22 February, CAMRA’s London Pubs Group had a tour of a selection of pubs in Kensington and Notting Hill.
The tour commenced in the Elephant & Castle. This Nicholson’s pub rates one star on CAMRAs inventory of historic pub interiors. It is remarkably unchanged inside from a (probably late) 1950s refurbishment. An ex-Charrington’s house, it is now essentially a single room, with a small snug to the rear and an irregular U-shaped bar that creates a narrow passage to this area.
The bar counter looks to have been re-fronted in recent times and a new counter top added. The main feature is the Charrington three-sided mirrored bar-back with illuminated panels lettered ‘Wines & Sprits’, ‘Charrington’s’ and ‘Toby Ale’ and with a small Toby image on the right-hand side. This pub is in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2025 and, on the day, Fullers London Pride, Gipsy Hill Hepcat, St Austell Nicholson’s Pale Ale and Timothy Taylor Landlord were being served.
A short walk led to the Churchill Arms. This has two stars on CAMRA’s inventory. It was built in the Victorian era but given a refit between the wars. There would have been separate rooms then but the partitions have gone, leaving a U-shaped drinking area. Most of the rest of the c1930 work survives. The windows are very attractive with canted bays and charming stained-glass details. There are also two sets of snob-screens mounted on the counter. In the mid-1980s they formed a continuous run but it’s hard to believe such a feature would have been put in during the 1930s when people favoured unencumbered counters. This pub is in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2025 and offers a CAMRA discount. Real ales were Fullers ESB, Grand Slam Spring Ale and London Pride, plus, Wimbledon Copper Leaf, and Fleek Citra Amarillo Pale.
A little further along is a former Whitbread pub, the Macauley Arms, now reopened as the Blue Stoops. This is recognised by CAMRA as an Outstanding Conversion or Restoration. It has been restored by Allsopp’s Brewery; the décor is impressive with a spectacular, bright-blue ceramic bar counter embossed with their logo (a hand). The counter is complemented by an eye-catching, elegant bar-back, a painted ceiling and floor tiling. Real ales were Allsopp’s Bitter, India Pale Ale and Pale Ale plus a guest ale, Heritage Beer Co’s Masterpiece.
Pub number four was the Windsor Castle. This is Grade II-listed with three stars on the CAMRA inventory. This two storey building dates from around 1825 and was refitted c1933. The refit created three small rooms separated by screens. The Sherry Bar is entered off Peel Street, the Private Bar is on the corner, while the Campden Bar lies along Campden Hill Road. Pride of place goes to two screens which create the three rooms in the manner of a Victorian public house.
The Sherry Bar has fielded panelling on both the walls and on the bar counter and there is a brick fireplace and some attractive fixed seating. Between the Sherry Bar and Private Bar is a screen with leaded glass in the top. The Private Bar is also panelled and has a baffle by the door. The real ales available were Sharp’s Doom Bar and Timothy Taylor Landlord.
Heading north brought us to the Uxbridge Arms. This is a one star pub on CAMRA’s inventory. A beerhouse dating back to 1836, it is a middle-of-terrace two-storey pub. The ground floor has been re-fronted with brick, seemingly in the interwar period. That scheme also left numerous fittings in the two rooms. The two front doors lead into an L-shaped bare wooden-floored room on the right. The bar counter has an inter-war front but a ceramic top was added in 2017, replacing a Formica one. There is a 1930s brick fireplace ‘painted black’ at the front right, with a real coal fire in winter. There is evidence that this room has been extended in modern times (confirmed by locals). Some beams have adzed wood (tooled with an adze to make it look old) and there is an imitation beam at the rear. Real ales available were Harvey’s Sussex Best and Portobello Westway Pale.
Pub number six was the Cock & Bottle. This has two stars on CAMRA’s inventory. The pub has an exceptionally ornate bar-back, showcasing a series of round columns with florid Corinthian capitals below a broad frieze terminating in a band of ornament. This handsome two-storey pub, formerly the Swan, was built in 1850. Multiple doorways in the Needham Road side indicate the presence of several rooms originally. The counter is old, possibly the same vintage as the bar-back. A roundel over a doorway in the servery features a swan, indicating the former name. Real ales were Timothy Taylor Landlord and Young’s Original.
The penultimate venue was the Duke of Wellington. This also rates one star on CAMRA’s inventory. Built in 1860, the pub was designed by Thomas Pocock for H H Finch (a pub company taken over by Young’s in 1991). In 2001, the pub was expanded into the shop next door and there is a wide gap linking the two parts. There are four other doors, indicating that there were originally five separate spaces and, remarkably, two full screens and some short ones still survive. The late 19th-century bar counter has a panelled front which, in recent years, has been rubbed down to the bare wood. The bar-back has some vestiges of the original. The top section has a broken pediment, as does part of the lower section, but there is much modern work. Unsurprisingly, the real ales were Young’s Original and Special.
The day’s tour concluded in the Elgin. This pub is Grade II-listed and holds three stars on CAMRA’s inventory. It has the crown jewel of Victorian screens, with perhaps the most colourful one anywhere. The architects were Hammack & Lambert and it was rebuilt 1867 then refurbished in 1898.
This pub has some spectacular Victorian ornamentation. Three distinct rooms are still clearly discernible, although they are now interlinked. The star performer is the room in the northern part, which is screened off from the corner bar by a wonderful timber and glass screen of exceptional exuberance. The grey etched glazing, gilded patterns and facetted jewel-like details gleam and sparkle. There is a bar-back of rare richness, embellished with delicate wood carving reminiscent of seventeenth-century detailing, plus gilded mirrors and a frieze of bas-relief apples. On the side wall are coloured tile strips and more gilded mirrors displaying foliage, hops, butterflies and birds in flight.
At the back of the pub is a large lounge with fielded dado panelling round the walls and a skylight at the rear. Real ales were Dark Star Hophead, St Austell Proper Job and Young’s Original.
Kim Rennie and Jane Jephcote