BOOKS
Insults - Old,new,borrowed,blue.
ARTICLES - PEOPLE
Henry
Andrews
Thomas
Clarkson
Flanders & Swann
Sir Alec
Guinness
Jerome
K Jerome
Charles
Macintosh
Joseph
Pujol
George
Robey
Leslie
Welch
Wicked
Lady
ARTICLES - PLACES
Braughing
Camden
Folly
Island
Hertford
Highgate
Markets
ARTICLES - SOCIAL
The
Old Bedford Music Hall
Brewing
in Herts
Eccentric
clergy
Origins
of Easter
Round the
Horne
St Bruno
Spurs
'Double' side.
CONTACT
As you come out of Belsize Park look left down the hill and you will see a large mural on the side of the wall of the Haverstock Arms. This shows a typical horse drawn dray and I believe, has recently been repainted along with the interior. The Haverstock Arms would have been known as a 'typical back street local' but for its High Street position in a fashionable part of London. However, it is worth remembering in order to return here after your walk.
So, turn right and proceed up the hill. Shortly the smart, chic and exclusive shops that are Hampstead's trade mark begin to appear. Near the brow of the hill on the left is the William IV pub. This is the centre of Hampstead's gay community but also attracts its clientele from far and wide.
A little further on is the old site of Woolworth's. It has been replaced by a coffee shop but I worked there on Saturday's on the fruit and veg. I once served Britt Ekland with a pound of apples; and illustrates the attraction of places such as this and Chelsea. You just do not know who you might bump into. Hampstead has always been the home of the rich and famous since it was 'discovered' during the plague years.
More recently there was great excitement during the mid-1960's when Ben Whittaker won the Hampstead parliamentary seat for Labour; it's current MP is Glenda Jackson, another Labour MP and star of stage, screen, TV and London Mayoral candidate.
Turn right at the lights by the tube station and you encounter what the English love doing best - queueing. One of the most popular venues is the Milk Churn - long a favourite coffee bar even before it attained notoriety when the police chased an armed gunman from its premises down the hill and onto the Underground tracks.
Hampstead was always a busy community at weekends; well before England began to catch up with the rest of Europe and opened up its shop doors on Sundays.
As you once again begin your ascent there are small alleys such as Money Yard and Golden Yard, too small to fit on any but the largest scale map, where the shops are even more exclusive in direct proportion to restricted selling space. There are plenty of pubs, bars and restaurants to stop and stare at the kind of people who like to be stopped and stared at.
At the top of the hill the road flattens and in the middle of a confusing traffic system is Whitestone Pond. More a huge puddle, but it seemed large when I was a small boy and went paddling in it with my friends. We later discovered that those traders that still used them, used to walk their horses through the water.........!!
On the furthest corner you cannot miss Jack
Straws Castle. It is named after the leader
of the Peasant's Revolt of 1381. This has a
very basic public bar but a superb restaurant
on the top floor, commanding excellent views
over the heath and consequently the London skyline.
It has seen many refurbishments and currently
sports the kind of weatherboarding normally
found in Essex. It is also the name of a prominent
Labour MP.
Down this hill topped by Jack Straws and on the right hand side is the old Bull and Bush, popularised by the music hall song penned by Florrie Forde 'Come, come, come and make eyes at me down at the Old bull and Bush....bush, bush.' The bull of the title alludes to a farmhouse that once stood there and the bush was a yew tree said to have been planted by the artist William Hogarth, who stayed here during the summers.
The right hand fork at Jack Straws stretches
down to the Spaniards Inn. This is a fast road;
and at the end narrows to a space where two
large people carriers could not pass without
one giving way. The pub is said to have been
named after two brothers and joint landlords
of Spanish origin who killed each other in a
duel. Or possibly after a Spanish Ambassador
who escaped there during the plague. Either
way, Dick Turpin the legendary highwayman was
also known to have stayed there and stabled
his horse accross the road.
There have been many attempts to widen the road so as to ease the number of cars, as well as tempers; but as it is the site of a famous inn and also the site of a listed building - a toll gate - traffic congestion is likely to continue for some time yet.
At this roundabout just descibed above, take the path onto the heath. Once on the heath you will appreciate why open grass land in London is so sacred. Hampstead is atop one of the highest hills in London. Down below Londoners go about their business in ever increasingly higher and denser buildings. Here, the air is cleaner and the space freer. On the other side of Jack Straws is Golders Green, centre of Londons Jewish population and many times I have driven into Golders Green in drizzle to be met by bright sunshine at the top.
The heaths are free, open, and for the enjoyment of everyone. If you follow the path you encounter three more ponds. The first was known as the boating pond; for toy boats with remote controls, not the rowboat type; the second pond was the dogpond for obvious reasons and the last one for swimming and fishing. My father was one of the idiots that had to be the first to dive in and crack the ice on New Years Day such as they do on the Serpentine in Hyde Park; this was well before London warmed up a bit. He and his brothers dived off a concrete structure that was fine as a diving board in those days but reminds me now of the bombed out shell of a hotel block in a war torn state.
Enjoy your walk over the heath. The views of London stretch out ahead. I was never too sure where, but Hampstead Heath merges
into Parliament Hill Fields, where London lies below and features in many English films when they want to shoot a panaramic backfdrop.
This vast area of green allows people of all ages and interests to enjoy the open air. I used to watch Camden's Irish contingent practise hurling here ; a kind of mix of football, hockey and extreme sports. Those interested in persuing less dramatic sports can fly a kite and when rarely, snow falls on London, this is the place to sled.
Parliament Hill Fields hosts an athletics track and is home for the London Cross Country Championships. It seemed a strange sort of afternoon to me when at school to be made to run over some of the best scenic routes in London in ankle high mud.
By staying on the Hampstead side the path brings you to the bottom of Hampstead at the railway station. In doing so you have crossed over fields that host Hampstead fair, a large fair that is traditionally held over Easter and other Bank and Public Holidays. It used to be the largest travelling fair but has diminished over the years. A small permanent fair is situated over to the right on the Vale of Health. Unlike Barnet (Barnet - Barnet Fair - hair) Hampstead Fair never entered into cockney ryhming slang. But Hampstead Heath has - hampstead heath rhymes with teeth (hampsteads).
At the bottom of this hill you can cheat and walk up to the Royal Free Hospital just past the cinema where there is another baffling one-way system for the benefit of motorists. My mother spent some time in and out of the Royal Free during 2001 and I can say that the view from any of the topmost floors is magnificent. If you can find an excuse to visit someone incarcerated here, then do so.
By continuing up the hill by the Royal Free you can navigate yourself back into Belsize Park Hill and to the tube station. Here you come full circle and to the Haverstock Arms.
The bar has recently been re-painted in Emerald Green; as the landlord is Irish, and the walls covered in sporting memoribilia and trophies as well as old pub signs and advertising miscellany. There is also a commemorative display in honour of Ronald Fraser who was a local here and died a few years back. Ronnie was a famous English actor who usually played likeable rogues and was regularly employed on TV series, and in films.
The strange thing is that when we visit in summer the side wall is removed and the wide awning of the shop opposite has always given me the distinct impression that I am somewhere in Spain.
The bar menu is of the sausages, scampi, chicken nuggets in a basket but it is cheap, well cooked and tastes good. The staff have always been friendly and whereas in many other pubs I will not mention, we have to ask to bring our children in, the Haverstock treats the same request with incredulity. Alternatively they serve an excellent traditional Sunday roast dinner for a equally excellent price. You can eat in the bar or in the small but cosy restaurant adjoining it.
I do not know what goes on in the ladies but the gents is dedicated to Andrew's Wishing Well. If you wish to donate to charity drop a few pennies in the urinal. The landlord was a regular guest on a Friday chat show on Channel 4 hosted by Chris Evans and if you haven't heard of the latter you are extremely lucky.
There is a tongue twister in the gents which reads: Ken Dodd's Dad's Dog's Dead. He, Ken Dodd, being a famous Liverpudlian comedian.
Much of this may have changed since 1999 as I have been advised by many visitors to this site; so it has been duly edited.