The Churchill Arms
If you are going on holiday to London, England, no matter where you stay there will be a pub close to you. That’s good news for beer enthusiasts who want to step out their door and grab a quick pint. However, if you can arrange to stay in Kensington, then you’ll be within a few minutes walk of the pub that I called my “local” for a week: The Churchill Arms.
I wish I could say that I planned this, but stumbling across the Churchill Arms (119 Kensington Church Street, London, W8 7LN) on the first day we were in London (while probably inevitable given its proximity to where we were staying) was nonetheless serendipitous in its timing. The exterior was literally in full bloom, decorated with all sorts of brilliantly colored flowers. It was a warm, sunny day and the doors of the pub were open inviting us in to rest our weary tourist feet while sipping a pint of Fuller’s London Pride.
The Churchill Arms is not large. The bar stretches the length of the front part of the pub. There are small tables along the walls on three sides and a small sitting room in the around the north side of the pub with a fireplace. The interior of the pub is decorated with all kinds of paraphernalia relating to Winston Churchill. From the ceiling on the south side of the pub hang a collection of bed pans (chamber-pots), one of them sports the face of Adolph Hitler as a target. In addition to World War II era bric-a-brac the walls are hung with newspaper clippings and countless photographs of Winston Churchill. Apparently, the Churchill Arms is where Winston Churchill would come to do his war time radio addresses.
The Churchill Arms was usually full of people (at the times I went — evenings). It was a mix of regulars and tourists. The tourists were obvious. The regulars, I figured out who they were by the end of the week. Sometimes its difficult to grab a table or a space at the bar, so you should be prepared to stand and drink, or if it’s a nice day, you could drift out onto Kensington Church Street and rub elbows with the smokers. If you are hungry there is a Thai food restaurant in the rear of the pub.
Jerry O’Brian is the name of the landlord at the Churchill Arms and he’s worked hard to make his pub a community center (see an article on BBC News, scroll down to the section labeled “pubs for life”). The pub has a cricket team (photos of the team members are behind the bar). One of the nice things about the Churchill Arms is that it’s a place for conversation. You won’t have to yell over music like you do here in the States and in so many of the “hipper” pubs in England. The only thing you’ll hear in the Churchill Arms is the sound of happy people enjoying good conversation.
