17/02/24 - A Pub Crawl in Belgravia

 Searching for John Bindon

Belgravia

Belgravia's story is one of dramatic transformation. Once a soggy expanse known as "Five Fields," notorious for highwaymen and muddy paths, it rose in the 19th century to become a symbol of elegance and wealth. This metamorphosis began with King George III's residence at Buckingham Palace, which spurred development in the area. But it was Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, who envisioned a grand vision. Partnering with builder Thomas Cubitt, they crafted Belgravia as we know it today – elegant white stucco terraces around Belgrave Square and Eaton Square, each a testament to innovation and ambition.

This new district quickly became a magnet for high society. Aristocrats, wealthy merchants, and even foreign embassies flocked to Belgravia, attracted by its fashionable air and discreet charm. The likes of Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, and Winston Churchill called it home.  And Bindon, more of later.

Mistakenly, I wouldn't have expected it to provide rich pickings for a pub crawl but in the hands of Ted Bruning and much needed Smartphone navigation, this preconception was quickly shattered.

No Messing - Walk 1 is 10 Pubs

John Bindon

Quite an extraordinary man, John Bindon. Son of a Fulham Taxi driver, he was a minor gangster, actor, murderer, bodyguard and in a move that prompted me to read his biography, the Queen's Sister's Lover.  He stared in four films of interest..... Quadrophenia and Get Carter are in my all time favs and Performance and Poor Cow have quite a legacy.

I knew from the biography (which includes a handy map) that he lived in a small flat in Belgravia and drank at the Star Tavern. This web site helped with location and contains some fine photos.

John on the left - Working Security with Led Zeppelin, Bob promoting Banks's

Grown men still sing songs about him and his extraordinary tricks with 5 pints of Banks's.

I have enough information for me to plan an afternoon of discovery.

The Antelope, 22 Eaton Terrace, GBG Tick #936

A fine start to proceedings...

This incarnation of the pub is from the 1820s, although the guide book suggests that there was "an isolated and villainous country pub used by the five field bandits" located at this site before.

Like most of the pubs in Belgravia, its purpose was to serve the builders and staff of the fine houses that sprung up in the area.

Today, its a Fuller's pub with plenty of wood paneling, a central island bar and a lovely little snug room to the left hand side. Celebrations of an annual game of cricket with the patrons from Notting Hill's Churchill Arms are reflected on a trophy board. They seem quite fair in sharing honours.

The Wooden Antelope

The Star Tavern, Belgrave Mews West, GBG Tick #937

First Bindon's gaff, located down a blind alley that I was not 100% sure I was allowed to walk down.

Pale Blue building... Garage was used for some of the scenes in Performance

Just around the corner, the Star Tavern

The Star Tavern was John's local and was the focal point in the 1960s for a "well heeled demi-monde of gangsters, slumming aristocrats and the rest of the brittle glitterati of the time".  Patrons rumoured to include Princess Margaret, Bing Crosby and the meeting place that launched the Profumo affair.  Did the landlord, Paddy Kennedy, really tell Elizabeth Taylor to "Move her fat arse" so one of his regulars could sit down? I really hope so.

The pub's web site makes no attempt to dispel the legend that the Great Train Robbery was planned within its rooms.  And some pantie thieving

The Star Tavern, a favourite of the rich and famous for many years, won infamy during the fifties and sixties as the hangout for London’s inner circle of master criminals, who quaffed Dom Perignon here alongside stars of the era such as Diana Dors, Peter O’Toole, Albert Finney and Alexander Korda the famous film director. This is where most of the planning took place for what was then the century’s biggest heist – the Great Train Robbery, netting the 18 man gang £2.6 million – about £40 million in today’s money.

After a tip-off from a bent solicitor’s clerk that up to £6 million was going to be on a Glasgow to London mail train on 8th August 1963, Bruce Reynolds, a well known and successful robber, contacted Buster Edwards, who was part of the ‘South Coast Raiders’ train robbing gang – and the plan was formed.

Reynolds, who co-ordinated the robbery, regularly drove his Aston Martin from his Streatham home to meet Edwards and one or two other members of the gang in The Star to go over details during the run-up to the robbery. Four was the maximum number to meet in public at any one time, in case the police were observing them. Reynolds’ friend, Terry Hogan, introduced him to The Star following the Eastcastle Street mailbag robbery of 1952 in which they both took part. Reynolds felt he’d broken through into the upper echelons of the criminal fraternity, and remembers meeting many of the ‘gentlemen robbers’ of the time such as Peter Scott, here in The Star. It was Scott who stole jewellery from Sophia Loren worth £200,000 and who came here and said ‘I hear poor Sophia has been robbed’ before getting out a huge roll of bank notes. Reputedly, he always stole a pair of his victims’ underwear at the same time.

Today, its another Fullers Pub. I found a nice spot at the end of the bar to soak in the atmosphere, ponder if they ever closed the curtains around the door and reflect that 330ml of 0.0% Ashahi Dry is £5.20.

Steeped in legend - sit and soak it up.

Nag's Head, Kinnerton Street

My next port of call is a place that shouldn't - by ANY stretch of the imagination, work.  Yet, by God, it does.

Can we trust a pub that has the landlord's name in a bigger font than the pub name?

The regulars on the London Pubs facebook page list a litany of hospitality crimes, many of which I observed in my short stay;

• £15 Minimum Card Transaction
• All Pints are £8, slung into any old receptacle. German lager in a Guinness pint pot, for example
• Short measures. Tough to take at £8
• Rude Staff
• A no telephone rule that is enforced with a ferocity that would embarrass Humphrey Smith 

I bloody loved it!  Even after having to wait to be served by a large group of Italians who seemed somewhat bemused by the whole experience.

It was London's smallest pub until the back room was opened out. A bonus virtual pint to whoever can tell me which establishment currently owns this record.

Nick-nacks everywhere, some fierce cast iron fires and toilets that need to be discovered on another day.

Mappiman, show me £4 worth of Belgravia Beer?

Need more facts?  Over the road, at Number 44, was the home of Ghislaine Maxwell and where that infamous photo of the 8th in line to the throne and sweaty nonce was taken.

The Grenadier, Wilton Row

Experienced pub fans will have been expecting this one. Located at the end of a blind alley, you certainly need map reading skills to find it.

Worth it when you get there

Another tiny pub, where I made the mistake of taking the final seat at the end of the bar. It really is amazing how some people have been brought up with a lack of pub etiquette. My favourite moment, a Hooray Henrietta spilling her recently purchased drink mid way through an order and demanding (and receiving) a free replacement.     

Lots of military memorabilia on the walls, as you would expect from a place that has an external sentry box. Originally the Duke of Wellington's Officers Mess, there are rumours the Iron Duke himself visted. More exciting is Ted's description of a Sunday Bloody Mary Club, where record sales were "300 Bloody Marys at £4 a shot, so they are not doing too badly".

Twenty years on and this is the price of a small cup of coffee. My server was American, but did not respond well to my request for a free refill.  Must have been the accent that was all wrong.

Four pubs ticked and with a battle against the Avanti West Coast line awaiting, I call it a day.

Not even half way through Ted's recommendations for just a small area of London.  

Will my work ever be done?