CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

GREATER LONDON (WEST) - London W1, Fitzrovia, Tottenham

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part Two

6 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1AN

Tel: 020 7636 8324

Opening Hours: 10am to 11pm

Public Transport: Underground: Tottenham Court Road

Listed Status: Grade II*

View this pub on a local map

Right by Tottenham Court Road Tube station, this is the last-remaining pub on whole length of Oxford Street and is busy morning, noon and night. It was built in 1892 in a Flemish Renaissance style to the designs of architects Saville & Martin (who also designed the Punch Tavern, EC4) and occupies a narrow plot which no doubt reflects a long history. The pub now consists of a long, single space which is the result of the amalgamation of at least two rooms from the original Victorian pub.

There is a good deal of decoration to admire here, especially in the rear part where there is a tiled frieze with swirling foliage, an ornate mahogany-surround fireplace, mirror and mahogany panelling, and a skylight (which has been ruined by unbelievably inappropriate modern coloured glass). Down the right-hand wall is a series of mirrors and paintings which depict three of the four seasons (number four has been lost at some stage). On the ceiling throughout the pub is a series of painted roundels of Classical subjects.