Barley Mow, London

A late 18th century pub containing two remarkable drinking booths.

A four-storey building of 1791 which houses an unique interior feature of extraordinary interest. There are two small drinking booths on the left-hand side of the bar, both surrounded by five-foot-high wooden screens and suggestive of heightened box-pews in a church. Each can comfortably hold only two or three people - although four or five might just be able to squeeze in. They are an extreme example of how the Victorians loved cosy drinking spaces. It is claimed the boxes were once used for pawn-broking although this is questionable.

The drinking booths form a narrow corridor between them and the wall, and over this are four curving metal stays attaching the booths to the left-hand wall panelling. This corridor leads to a small rear room served by its own counter, a continuation of the main counter at the front. This rear room has old half-height panelling on all walls. A pot shelf here is modern but done in a style that sits happily with the rest of the pub. A door from here is still in situ and leads into a small corridor off which is a doorway (door now gone) that connects back to the front bar.  Attached to the bar counter in two places are brass plaques which, unusually, list the names and prices of some drinks. Although now very worn, they are just about legible: “Pale Brandy, Old Jamaica Rum, Old Tom... Prices 2/6, 13/-” and so on. 

There are three sets of double doors at the front of the pub, evidence that what today is a deliciously small pub was even further sub-divided. The remnants of a small vestibule around the central doors contain etched, patterned glass whose raised surfaces suggest it has some age to it.