Princess Louise, Holborn
The Princess Louise is a public house on High Holborn, a street in central London. Built in 1872, it has a well-preserved 1891 Victorian interior, with wood panelling and a series of booths around an island bar. It is a tied house owned by the Samuel Smith Old Brewery of Tadcaster, Yorkshire.[1]
About
[edit]Being located near Bloomsbury, the British Museum and the University of London, it is patronised by academics.[2]
Building
[edit]The building is protected by its Grade II* listing[3][4] and has what has been described as "a rich example of a Victorian public house interior", by William B Simpson and Sons; who contracted out the work.[3][4][5] The men's toilets, with their marble urinals, are mentioned in the listing.[3][4] The pub, which is also listed on National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, was refurbished in 2007.[6] The pub is unusual in that it retains its snob screens.[6]
In June 2009, the pub was joint winner of the best refurbishment class of the 2008 Pub Design Awards awarded annually by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).[7] Author Peter Haydon included the Princess Louise in his book The Best Pubs in London and rated it No. 5 in the capital, saying it had "possibly the best preserved Victorian pub interior in London".[8]
History
[edit]The pub was operated by Regent Inns from 1990 until 1998, when the lease was taken over by Samuel Smith.
The Princess Louise has been the venue for a number of influential folk clubs run by Ewan MacColl and others, which played an important part in the British folk revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s.[9]
References
[edit]- ^ Brown, Matt (6 May 2011). "10 of the best pubs in London". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
- ^ "To Professor Arthur Terry (1927–2004), in Memoriam". Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies. 10: 3–8. 2004. doi:10.1080/1470184042000236297. S2CID 216115577. "I have especially fond memories of several lunchtime beer and sandwich sessions at the "Princess Louise" in Holborn"
- ^ a b c "Princess Louise Public House, Camden". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
- ^ a b c Historic England. "Princess Louise public house (Grade II*) (1378884)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ^ Protz, R.(Ed.), Good Beer Guide 2006, ISBN 1-85249-211-2
- ^ a b Brandwood, Geoff (2013). Britain's best real heritage pubs. St. Albans: CAMRA. p. 61. ISBN 9781852493042.
- ^ CAMRA Pub Design Awards 2008, CAMRA, 29 June 2009,
This renowned Sam Smith's pub has undergone a comprehensive redesign which has seen the reintroduction of the original, multi-bar layout, complete with bar doors and snob screens. This has made what was already an interesting and worthy pub even more of a pubgoers' icon. After a six-month closure, this celebrated landmark has reopened in a guise which reflects both its incarnation of over a century ago and the modern customer's wish to drink and chat in a cosy, quiet and private environment. This is one instance in which gilding the lily can actually improve the subject.
- ^ Haydon, Peter (26 March 2009). "London's 10 best pubs". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
- ^ Harper, Colin (21 August 2006). Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 32, 35, 320. ISBN 9780747587255. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
External links
[edit]
