THE LIGHTHOUSE
THE LIGHTHOUSE - A LITERARY LONDON PUB
It was a writers' meet-up, last week. To The Lighthouse, Battersea, we went in reference to Virginia Woolf’s classic novel To the Lighthouse?(1927).
This pub was called the Clock House, dating from 1865. It has been renamed Dovedale House and Bar Room Bar. Now it is The Lighthouse and run by the City Pub Company. The clock remains in place.
The Lighthouse has a modern interior with bare-board flooring, mismatched retro furnishings and bare-brickwork or green painted walls with arty paintings and prints. If you don’t want to walk all the way to the bar, punters can download a pub app to settle up bills via their phone.
We sat in the patio garden at the rear - a dog-friendly area. Much writing stuff was discussed by: Beverley (her new short story collection ‘The dog get's it!' is ￡8.99?- proceeds donated to The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association), Bob (his novel London’s Gravity is out now), Bridget, Errol (he is performing Something to take off the edge in Clapham on 27th September), Jude, Peter (his new book is entitled Bukavu Blues), Margaret?and?Tim & Emma?(they brought their greyhounds Scrubs?&?Montana).
I drank Portobello Notting Helles (recommended by James, the general manager) and Hofmeister Helles (I’m old enough to remember ‘follow the bear’).
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As we had just missed the Harry Potter quiz special held on the 21 August 2022, I had to ask James if he knew of any other literary connections to the pub ‘maybe back in the day’. He said: ‘The mother of an ex-barmaid told me Wills and Harry once came in for a drink.’ Both princes are much written about and have penned a few things 'themselves': Prince William’s bibliography. Prince Harry’s bibliography. According to the Sun, Harry ‘explosive’ memoir is set for a Christmas launch. I was also told the songwriter Lewis Capaldi, who wrote Divinely uninspired to a hellish extent, has frequented the pub.
The blog ‘Aspects of Literature’ discuss some more Battersea’s literary connections.
If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.
Author
1 年Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse Is Copyright Free https://hyperallergic.com/790717/public-domain-day-2023/
Writer and proprietor at Silk Sense
2 年Cheers Henry! An excellent piece showing a good nose for a buried story. Particularly liked the way you were able to weave in an abundance of speculation, supposition and wistfulness. Such a handy phrase 'I was told that... Well done.