The French House is a
pub
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
and dining room at 49
Dean Street
Dean Street is a street in Soho, central London, running from Oxford Street south to Shaftesbury Avenue.
Historical figures and places
In 1764 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then a young boy, gave a recital at 21 Dean Street.
Admiral Nelson stayed ...
,
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develo ...
, London. It was previously known as the ''York Minster'', but was informally called "the French pub" or "the French house" by its regulars. It sells more
Ricard Ricard is a surname, as well as a Catalan name. Notable people with the surname include:
* Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard (1771–1843), French general under Napoleon
* Hámilton Ricard (born 1974), Colombian footballer
*Jean-François Ricard (bo ...
than anywhere else in Britain, and only serves beer in half-pints except on
1 April
Events Pre-1600
* 33 – According to one historian's account, Jesus Christ's Last Supper is held.
* 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
* 1081 – Alexios I Ko ...
, when a recent custom has been that
Suggs
Graham McPherson (born 13 January 1961), known primarily by his stage name Suggs, is an English singer-songwriter, musician, radio personality and actor from Hastings, England.
In a music career spanning 40 years, he came to prominence in the ...
serves the first pint of the day.
History
The pub was opened by a German national named Christian Schmitt in 1891 and traded as "York Minster". Schmitt died in 1911. His wife, Bertha Margaretha Schmitt, continued to run the pub until 1914. With the outbreak of the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Bertha Schmitt sold the pub to a Belgian, Victor Berlemont, who had moved to London in 1900. The bill of sale is posted on a wall at the French still today.
He was succeeded by his son Gaston Berlemont, who was born in the pub in 1914, and worked there until his retirement in 1989.
After the
fall of France during the Second World War, General
Charles de Gaulle escaped to London where he formed the
Free French Forces
__NOTOC__
The French Liberation Army (french: Armée française de la Libération or AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (french: Forces françaises libres, l ...
. His speech rallying the French people, "À tous les Français", is said to have been written in the pub.
The French House has always been popular with artists and writers.
Brendan Behan
Brendan Francis Aidan Behan (christened Francis Behan) ( ; ga, Breandán Ó Beacháin; 9 February 1923 – 20 March 1964) was an Irish poet, short story writer, novelist, playwright, and Irish Republican activist who wrote in both English an ...
wrote large portions of ''
The Quare Fellow ''The Quare Fellow'' is Brendan Behan's first play, first produced in 1954. The title is taken from a Hiberno-English pronunciation of ''queer''.
Plot
The play is set in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. The anti-hero of the play, The Quare Fellow, is never ...
'' there, and
Dylan Thomas once left the manuscript of ''
Under Milk Wood
''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, commissioned by the BBC and later adapted for the stage. A film version, ''Under Milk Wood'' directed by Andrew Sinclair, was released in 1972, and another adaptation of ...
'' under his chair. Other regulars over the years have included
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
,
Tom Baker
Thomas Stewart Baker (born 20 January 1934) is an English actor and writer. He is well known for his portrayal of the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1974 to 1981.Scott, Danny. (1 ...
,
Daniel Farson
Daniel James Negley Farson (8 January 1927 – 27 November 1997) was a British writer and broadcaster, strongly identified with the early days of commercial television in the UK, when his sharp, investigative style contrasted with the BBC's mor ...
,
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...
,
Slim Gaillard,
Augustus John
Augustus Edwin John (4 January 1878 – 31 October 1961) was a Welsh painter, draughtsman, and etcher. For a time he was considered the most important artist at work in Britain: Virginia Woolf remarked that by 1908 the era of John Singer Sarge ...
,
Malcolm Lowry, and
John Mortimer.
Clive Jennings says of regular clientele such as
Jeffrey Bernard
Jeffrey Joseph Bernard (; 27 May 1932 – 4 September 1997) was an English journalist, best known for his weekly column "Low Life" in ''The Spectator'' magazine, and also notorious for a feckless and chaotic career and life of alcohol abus ...
that "the lethal triangle of The French,
The Coach & Horses and
The Colony were the staging points of the Dean Street shuffle, with occasional forays into other joints such as
The Gargoyle or the Mandrake ...
The Groucho
The Groucho Club is a private members' club formed in 1985 located on Dean Street in London's Soho. Its members are mostly drawn from the publishing, media, entertainment and arts industries.
The club has rooms on several floors, including th ...
or Blacks".
The name was changed to "The French House" after the fire at
York Minster
The Cathedral and Metropolitical Church of Saint Peter in York, commonly known as York Minster, is the cathedral of York, North Yorkshire, England, and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. The minster is the seat of the Arch ...
in 1984. Contributions toward the restoration fund started arriving at the pub. Upon forwarding them, Gaston Berlemont found that the cathedral had been receiving deliveries of
claret
Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...
intended for him.
In recent years, landlady Lesley Lewis has encouraged Soho photographers to exhibit in the pub with regular contributions from
John Claridge
John Claridge (born 1944) is a British photographer, known for his work in advertising, black and white portraits in Soho and street photographs in the East End of London.
Early life
Claridge was born in Plaistow, London. His father worked ...
, William Corbett,
Carla Borel and Peter Clark; and members of illustrators' collective, Le Gun. Claridge based his ''Soho Faces'' project at the French from 2004 to 2017. He said, "I decided to document the customers at The French in earnest. For me, it was the one place in Soho that still held its Bohemian character, where people truly chose to share time and conversation, and I became aware that many I had once chinked glasses with were no longer around."
The dining room at the French House was opened by
Fergus and
Margot Henderson
Margot Henderson (born 1964) is a New Zealand chef, caterer, and cookery writer who lives in the United Kingdom. With Melanie Arnold, Henderson runs the caterers Arnold & Henderson, and is the co-patron and chef of the Rochelle Canteen in Shored ...
in 1992. Fergus would later leave in 1994 to establish his
St. John restaurant in Smithfield. Margot continued to run the dining room for several years with Melanie Arnold.
Anna Hansen
Anna Lise Hansen MBE is a Canadian-born chef, who was raised in New Zealand and now runs The Modern Pantry in London, United Kingdom.
Culinary career
Anna Hansen was born in Canada to parents who were originally from New Zealand but with Europ ...
worked under the Hendersons as
head chef
A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel. A chef patron (feminine form ''chef patronne'') (French for ''boss chef'') or executive chef ...
.
References
External links
*
John Claridge’s Soho Portraits
{{DEFAULTSORT:French House, Soho, The
Alfred W. Blomfield buildings
Pubs in Soho
Restaurants in London
Restaurants established in 1910