Olde Swiss Cottage, Hampstead

Turns out the closure was only temporary - reopned on 10/01/24. March 2024 - all the handpumps have been removed so cask beer, it would seem, will not return.

01/01/24 - our reporter states "I saw on Facebook that Ye Old Swiss Cottage is closing on 2nd Jan. not clear from post if this is temporary. The last time I was in there a few months ago it seems neglected and run down, sad to see. No food on offer (likely due to low food hygiene rating). The landlord moved to Poland a few years ago and it has gone downhill since."

After being a Sam Smith's keg outlet for many years, real ale made a somewhat surprise return in 2009. However this ceased to be the case in 2021 - no doubt pandemic related. Its return seems doubtful.

Looks like a Swiss chalet which is somewhat incongruous in the midst of an island surrounded by some of London's busiest roads but there is a historical perspective. It was built in 1830 by T Redmond and it stood next to a toll gate; travellers would stop at the tavern while waiting to pay their fees. There had been a gabled building on the site called Lausanne Cottage said to have been used by Charles II as a hunting lodge and their may have been an earlier pub called the Swiss Tavern.

The Swiss chalet look was popular in the first half of the nineteenth century. From 1840 the area grew up around the pub. in 1850 it was the site of the terminus of the General Omnibus Company for their line to London Bridge. The underground station came in 1868 named after the pub. There is a large outside drinking terrace with two inter-locking rooms inside.