Magdala

A historic Hampstead pub with a great deal to admire.

This delightful pub follows the gentle curve of the street as it winds up from South End Green. It went up in the late 1860s to serve the developing neighbourhood but is included in this guide for its 1930s makeover. You can see a harbinger of this outside in the buff faience tiling on the ground floor and the attractive strips of green glazing in the windows. Access to the two chief rooms is via a centrally placed lobby. On the left is a large room devoted principally to dining; however only the bar counter here survives from the scheme.

On the right hand side is a pleasant and remarkably intact room from the thirties. Just inside the doorway stands a glazed angled baffle and beyond this, on the left, is the servery. Here, the panelled bar counter is slightly bowed, echoing the contours of the shallow archway which demarcates the rear part of the pub. The elementary bar-back fittings are original. The walls have elegant fielded panelling to half height and there’s a low-key art deco plaster frieze.  The picture is completed by a Tudor-style pink marble fireplace.

In 2021, the disused toilets at the back of this room were removed. Crude matching panelling was provided in the extended space, and stained glass in the  rear window. Without doubt, this was a wholly beneficial change.