Hampstead Again

Posted on 2016/01/20 22:00:46 (January 2016).

[Monday 11th January 2016]
Chie was a bit tired this evening and went to bed at the same time as Erika this evening, so once the girls were asleep I decided to slip out and pop back to Hampstead. When we'd been there yesterday, apart from the general reminder that it was so much nicer there than almost the entire rest of London, I'd spotted the Duke of Hamilton, and it occurred to me that I hadn't been there for quite a while (probably the last time was June 2009), and for some reason I felt drawn to revisit. As you might imagine for around 9pm on a Monday in January, it wasn't exactly busy, I think there were just 3 other customers in there. Slightly surreally for the day that David Bowie died, they were playing back to back Amy Winehouse. I can only conclude that there is a backlog of grief for deceased musicians and they'll get to Bowie in due course. I don't know why I haven't been to the DoH more, it's quite a characterful pub, and I imagine harks back to a Hampstead of yesteryear, when it wasn't solely the playground of the super rich, but was more a home for arty types, and in particular thespians, many of whom weren't necessarily that well off. Whether the 3 gents I shared the pub with this evening were treaders of the boards I can't really be sure - one looked like he might be, the other less so, unless they were perhaps extras on The Bill. It's the sort of pub you'd imagine Ray Winstone would like.

Also since I was in that neck of the woods I thought I might as well also pop into the Holly Bush, which I walked to from the 'Duke via a circuitous route, taking in some fascinating back streets which could just as well be country lanes. It's amazing how well Hampstead has preserved that villagey feel.

Post a comment