GRAFTON ARMS
GRAFTON ARMS - A LITERARY LONDON BAR
Yesterday, Jo took me for a fancy meal in Victoria. Afterwards, I suggested a digestif at the Grafton Arms. It is a Victorian pub run by Greene King. At 2:30 (the dentist favourite time) the pub was quiet and unassuming. There were a few grey-haired old blokes. I overheard someone comment: ‘They look like tube drivers.’
We took our drinks and sat in a booth with a poster for the Goon Show Classics Vol 10: The Whistling Spy Enigma; I was Monty's Treble. There was a pervasive smell of fried fish and chips in the air – it was Friday after all!
There is Goon’s memorabilia such as cartoons and photos all over the walls. Michael Bentine, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe made the Grafton Arms their local after the Second World War. Spike Milligan also rented a room above the pub and helped behind the bar. ?From 1948, Peter Sellers joined the three meeting at the Grafton on a Sunday night. With a little help from the landlord Jimmy Grafton ‘The Goons’ were born.
If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.
Author
3 年The Goon Show: US Archive & Preservation Society https://www.goon.org/
Writer and proprietor at Silk Sense
3 年Immoral scriptwriting from that well known typing error Spike Milligna Grytpypythyn: Open the door Eccles - use the handle on your side Eccles: But I haven't got a handle on my side! Henry Bannister: Min Min put the cat out. Minnie: But Henry it's not on fire!
Author and Historian. 2021 recipient of the Victorian Military Society's Howard Browne Medal. No cryptocurrency or sugar daddy connection requests.
3 年My dad was a big Goons fan. I remember the Telegoons just before heading to Canada.
#storyteller
3 年Nice one! Extra points for the dentist line.