YE OLDE SWISS COTTAGE

YE OLDE SWISS COTTAGE - A LITERARY LONDON PUB

At the junction of Finchley New Road and Avenue Road, is a Swiss chalet?housing a pub.

The Swiss Tavern?was built in 1804 and functioned as a coaching inn. It was later named Ye Olde Swiss Cottage. From 1840s, the surrounding area grew up around the Tavern; the underground station came in 1868; the district Swiss Cottage was named after the Tavern. The current building, Grade II listed, dates from the 1960s.

I’ve been to this Samuel Smith pub many times as it is convenient for meeting before or after a movie. Last time I was here, the group drank a couple of bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon discussing the end of No Time to Die ?(James Bond).

The pub has an outside drinking terrace and two inter-locking rooms inside. The interior is furnished with armchairs and sofas - a bit worn in places. There's no music in Samuel Smith pubs so good for chat. However, be warned this is not a pub for everyone’s taste. Comments in beer in the evening go from ‘Most superficial pub in London - made to look like a Swiss cottage!’ to ‘This is a fantastic exterior. I would say iconic. Inside slightly worn interior with some very odd characters drinking there.’

Anyway, this year, my Secret Santa?brought me a ￡30 gift voucher for Bradleys restaurant around the corner so rude not to pop into the Ye Olde Swiss Cottage for an aperitif. If you are coming by tube, the pub is right by Swiss Cottage Underground station - easily located using exit #3. In keeping to the Swiss theme, I ordered a pint of?Alpine Lager (2.8%). The manager told me: ‘There is no Alpine lager on. People just aren’t drinking it … I had to throw away half a barrel. It’s just not profitable for me!’ I went for a pint of Double Four (4%) instead while?Jo?had a ? of Extra Stout (4.5%).

There is a poetry dimension to Ye Olde Swiss Cottage that I share:

The poet Dannie Abse wrote ‘My one and only meeting with Dylan Thomas occurred in the Swiss Cottage pub’ (page 110, A Poet in the Family). The meeting petered out into excruciating silences. ‘But Swiss Cottage was a rather bohemian and promiscuous area,’ he recalls. ‘There were many young women available and it didn't hurt to write poetry in that kind of atmosphere.’

Ashley Chapman’s poem Winter Come starts: Rolling a Pall Mall in the courtyard, of Ye Olde Swiss Cottage Tavern, in the last of November's sun: Lovely sunlight, You are, Filling me warmly with joy.

Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, 98 Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, NW3 5EL

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