THE BAYSWATER ARMS
THE BAYSWATER ARMS - A LITERARY LONDON PUB
Three people were drinking outside, on the new black tables and chairs, I presumed tourists as we were on Queensway.
Over the windows, ‘Breakfast’, ‘Fish & Chips’ and ‘Cask Ale’ were being advertised.
The faux Victorian interior was festooned in union jack bunting which told me they were ready for the Euros. The pub (since 1860), run by Greene King, gave away a free pint of False Nine (a 4% cask golden ale) on Wednesday, May 29, if you could prove your football knowledge by naming a false nine player. I said: ‘Lionel Messi’. The jolly barman proceeded to give me lots of other ‘False nine’ players: Phil Foden, Johan Cruyff, Roberto Firmino and Francesco Totti. Poets interested in the football may like to click on this link.
For literary lovers, the pub is mentioned in Jeremy Quirke’s Toerags in Orange Caftans: ?‘Tell you what, let’s go down now and have a pint in that Bayswater Arms, you can see the side of the station from the boozer.’
In Charles H. Allen’s Gilded Monuments: ‘I got to know a 74-year-old man called Harvey. He spent as much time as I did in “The Bayswater Arms” but vehemently denied any accusation I made regarding his drinking habits … I remember “The Bayswater Arms” being especially good at Christmas. The decorations were understated but still managed to create a strong sense of festive jocundity and everyone in there was cheerful, without being irritating.’
The pub features in Owen Mullen’s Hustle (part of The Glass Family Series Boxset): ‘The Bayswater Arms on the corner of Queensway and Moscow Road wasn’t George Ritchie’s normal haunt – it was too close to where he lived and, in fact, he’d never been inside. Drinking at lunchtime wasn’t his thing but that Christmas his basement flat had felt oppressive.’
The pub is mentioned in Joy Smith’s Tell Me a Story, I’ll Bake You a Cake.
Finally, here is a haiku from Travels with Myself: Haikus from the Road: ‘Couple in the bayswater’s arms (London, February 2017)’: She took just one chip / From his plate, did not mean it / Now they stopped talking. Joachim Matschoss gives us at least four haikus set in this pub in his collection.
If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.