I remember you well, The Warrington Hotel
The Warrington Hotel was the first pub I visited after moving to London in the summer of 1994. As such, it skewed my expectations of the city’s hostelries: not only was the bar itself a gloriously over-the-top shrine to art nouveau glass, carved mahagony and ornate ironwork (installed in a 1900 refurb to rebrand the establishment from its knocking shop reputation), but Martin Gore of Depeche Mode was holding court at the bar (the BBC’s nearby Maida Vale studios ensured a steady supply of once and future popstrels). Tragically few of the London boozers I have visited since have lived up to this initiation.
Considering its chi-chi environs, the Warrington was still a remarkably unaffected and welcoming pub - you get the impression that many of the local Wood and Vale residents weren’t keen to frequent a place that resisted makeover and gastrofication. But it was evidently only a matter of time. Paying a visit last week, we noticed a sign on the stairwell notifying us that the property had recently been purchased by Gordon Ramsay Holdings (supposedly for £5.2 million ) and was shortly to be closed for refurbishment.
The sign suggested that this would take place at the end of January, so if you’re inclined you still have a week or two to pay your first visit or your final respects to a beautiful pub before it’s gone, in spirit at least, forever.
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FT's Stevie on January 15th, 2007
Hmm, my cackhandedness with wordpress has caused my links to vanish - here’s the pub: http://www.pubs.com/pub_details.cfm?ID=249
and here’s the Standard’s take on it:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/restaurants/article-23372304-details/Ramsay+tries+out+the+P-word+(that’s+pub)/article.do
FT's Alan on January 15th, 2007
we noticed the upstairs thai had shut down - do you think they’ll fuss with the downstairs pub?
Vicky on January 15th, 2007
This used to be an after work regular haunt, always good on early summer evenings when you could hear the cricket crowds