'Real loss': Historic Ye Olde Swiss Cottage shuts in fresh blow to London's pub scene
'Real loss': Historic Ye Olde Swiss Cottage shuts in fresh blow to London's pub scene
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A historic old pub, which gave Swiss Cottage station its name, has shut dealing another blow to London’s pub scene. Ye Olde Swiss Cottage served its last orders on Saturday after its owners Samuel Smith’s Brewery decided to close the pub out of the blue. The once popular spot, which the Standard previously dubbed one of London’s most eccentric pubs, was famed for resembling a Swiss chalet. Pubgoers told the Ham and High newspaper they were “all shedding a tear” as Ye Olde Swiss Cottage closed its doors.
Tony Kay, who has lived nearby for 50 years, described how the pub used to be a stop-off for football fans on their way to Wembley but had recently “been very empty and a shadow of its former self”. He said: “Ye Old Swiss Cottage is one of those odd places where you walk in and all the music stops and everyone turns around and looks at you. "It was in a good place and what else is going to go there? What I don't want is for it to be knocked down and turned into flats.".
Joanne Scott, from the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), said its closure was a "real loss for the local community and also for London". The pub building is not listed or an asset of community value which could be barriers for any attempts to save it. The pub was first built in 1830 and stood next to a toll gate where travellers would stop at the tavern while waiting to pay their fees, a description on the Camra website says.
The Swiss chalet look was popular in the first half of the nineteenth century and from 1840 the area grew up around the pub. The underground station was built in 1868 and named after the pub. More pubs closed in London in the first six months of this year than anywhere else in England, a study has found. The capital lost 46 watering holes up to the end of June, according to data from real estate analysts Altus Group.
