THE LARRIK
THE LARRIK - A LITERARY LONDON BAR
On Wednesday, Carsten, Jude and I ventured forth to The Larrik, Marylebone. On arrival, four people (a group of three and a single bloke) were drinking outside at the front.
This pub was first licensed in 1835 as the Laurie Arms. The present building dates from 1894 and the name ‘The Larrik’ is from 2001 after a spell as Seymours.
This is a corner pub with a large open plan seating area and a L-shaped bar. It feels bright inside as the windows are big and the walls painted a light colour. The décor is mainly wooden, polished floorboards, wooden tables and chairs, plus a few armchairs thrown in for good measure. Jude drew Carsten and my attention to a sexy nude on one wall.
They serve gastro-pub food here I noted the ‘business lunch’ for ￡16 (weekdays) includes a beer, wine or soft drink.
Carsten and Jude both drunk pint of Neck Oil. I was on the Pilsner Urquell. Card payment only.
The toilets are down wooden stairs.
This pub's main literary credentials stem from its connection to T.S. Eliot.
In the late 1910s, T.S. Eliot and his first wife Vivienne lived as newlyweds in Crawford Place directly opposite this pub. Here are snippets about The Eliots of Crawford Mansions.
The programme Hold on Tight: The Women of The Waste Land suggests that T.S. Eliot overheard phrases in the pub, which he used in The Waste Land.
From an unpublished memoir of T.S. Eliot by Mary Trevelyan: ‘Several times, when I?was driving about London with him, he brought out memories of that time,’ she writes. ‘In Paddington, as we passed the dingy flats of Crawford Mansions: ‘We lived there – I?was very unhappy. There is the pub – I?used to watch the people coming out at Closing Time – that’s the origin of ‘Hurry up Ladies – it’s time’.’’ [Taken from PN Review 242 ‘Some Investigation and Digression into Lines 139-167 of the Waste Land’ by John Clegg]
Jim McCue and James Brookes went to The Larrik with the specific intention of staying to hearing last orders being called.
In addition, to the pub's connections to T.S. Eliot there are other literary credentials such as: Ulla-Lena Lundberg, Sarah Death and a UK publisher dining here in 2023.
If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.
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1 年Excellent piece of literary detailing
Full-time literary translator from Swedish to English
1 年A fun little modern footnote to its literary credentials: I was there for a quick impromptu dinner earlier this year with a UK publisher and the eminent Finland-Swedish author Anna-Lena Lundberg, plus a giant bouquet of lilies that the author had just received after giving a talk about her latest novel to the Anglo-Swedish Society at the Swedish Church just around the corner in Harcourt Street.