Star & Garter, London

There has been a public house here since at least 1825 when its name but it may have been first licensed in 1814. According to the Survey of London, it "is outwardly an early nineteenth-century building with a three-storeyed front. In the ground storey is a contemporary wooden public-house front having narrow pilasters which support a fascia, the latter finished with carved bracket-stops. The upper storeys each have two flat-headed windows, but the brickwork has a much later cement facing with window-surrounds of the same date". In 1986 this was the Soho Clarion's Pub-of-the-Year and the Spring 1986 edition features a youthful Kelvin receiving his £75 award of a free bet from bookmakers William Hill. The Clarion approvingly comments that "So often refurbishment means modernisation and a general loss of character. In this case, however, the brewers have done an excellent job providing at the same time more space and a most pleasing decor. On a note of interest, displayed on the wall area, are the original beer pumps that were only taken out last year." Those original pumps still remain on display and the front windows are still picked out in gold lettering with 'COURAGE BEST BITTER' and 'COURAGE DIRECTORS BITTER'.