St Stephen’s Tavern

Standing next to Westminster tube station and right across the street from The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, St Stephen’s Tavern is a traditional pub that originally opened in 1875. It has been frequented by many  renowned personalities including prime ministers such as Winston Churchill, Stanley Baldwin and Harold Macmillan and even today it is one of the watering holes of some famous British politicians.

The pub still retains its original division bell which rings to warn the British lawmakers that there are only a few minutes to vote.
I like old buildings and as soon as I entered the door I immediately noticed the Victorian wooden carvings on the walls and the ceiling.
Photographs and newspaper clippings adorn the walls of the building.
From the ground floor, there’s a set of stairs that leads you to the 1st floor (2nd floor to the Americans), and on both sides of the wall there’s all types of framed old magazines/newspaper articles, photographs, caricatures, etc., that will make any political history buff to stop and have a look.

It’s on a Grade II Listed building with ornate wooden carved high ceiling and other fittings from the original Victorian structure. (According to English Heritage, “A building is listed when it is of special architectural or historic interest considered to be of national importance and therefore worth protecting.”)

The pub retains many of the original fixtures and fittings.

Unarguably, it is one the best pubs to visit in London for those interested in political history. It’s mentioned in one of Winston Churchill’s biography books and it’s been on my list of ‘historic places to visit’ in the city for over a decade. I’ve only visited once to take these photos with a visiting friend from Manila, and it was packed with tourists and possibly with some of the British government’s elite, too.

by Elna Categories: Uncategorized