Pop into the Red Lion public house, in Waverton Street, for a glass of gin. Here's a pub which would win outright any competion for ”The Typical English Pub”.
Built as a farm-house in 1849 it is very properly lowceilinged, pewter-mugged, copper-panned and nooked and crannied. Its cosy snug bars enfold you like a friendly overcoat. Ask for a Gilbey's Gin Fizz and spend a little time gazing through the diamond patterned lead windows to the dappled streets of Mayfair, you'll come out feeling that this is your London, too.
The pub has a connection with the town of Red Lion, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. An English coachman who used the pub as his local went to the States to drive stagecoach. Asked to name one particularly lonely and unchristened stage-stop he gave it the name of his favourite pub, which it bears to this day. Funny thing, though-we understand that the town is 'dry'.
Just around the corner there used to be a quick-marrige chapel run by one Rev. Alexander Keith. He practised matrimonial joinery at the rate of one a minute, 6000 a year. Celebrities included the Duke of amilton, who married one of the Gunning Sisters, twoof the pin-ups of the day and age. Such was the Duke's eagerness for connubial bliss, he used a curtain ring to clinch the deal.
The Red Lion stands in the area known as Mayfair. The original May Fair existed from the time of James II to George III. Closed because of ”riotous assemblies”, the attractions used to include: Fire Eaters; Sausage Tables; Grinning for a at; Running for a Shift; Eel diving and numerous other healthy exercises.
A little of the old May Fair still flavours nearby Shepherd Market, a place where I love tobrowse. It radiates in spidery alleys from the unhurried lane which gives it the name. Even on a rainy day you can get a glow from shops like the little Currio Shop which is ablaze with brazen antiques and other non-ferrous knick-knackery.
If you make a buy and want to gloat over it, a good spot is the nearby King's Arms, and a Gilbey's-and-something-on-ice will turn any small gloat into a positive coup.