Black Lion

Pub Heritage Group have recently carried out a regrading of Real Heritage Pubs - click here for full details

Greater London North West - London

Three star - A pub interior of exceptional national historic importance

Listed Status: II*

274 Kilburn High Road
London, Kilburn
NW6 2BY

Tel: (020) 3876 8204

Website https://blacklionkilburn.co.uk/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/197256637640291

Real Ale: Yes

Real Cider: Yes

Lunchtime Meals: Yes

Evening Meals: Yes

Nearby Station: West Hampstead

Station Distance: 700m

Public Transport: Near Railway Station (West Hampstead) and Bus Stop

Bus: Yes

View on: Whatpub

Pride of place here goes to the series of four copper relief panels by designer F. A. Callcott depicting eighteenth-century ladies and gents at leisure at the supposed antecedent of the present pub.

An impressive corner-site pub built in 1898 to designs by architect, R. A. Lewcock. It has a light, spacious interior enriched with some particularly spectacular and appealing decoration. The copper relief panels depict ladies and gents variously enjoying a game of bowls, drinking and smoking, watching the inn sign being painted, and taking the waters at Kilburn Wells, the spa that lay nearby to the south. There is a deep and superbly ornate Florentine frieze in both main rooms and also a richly decorated ceiling.

Originally the main space would have been subdivided – see the names 'bar' (probably the public bar), private bar and saloon above the doors externally - but there is still one screen surviving, which was moved to its present position on the left in 2003, before which it was at right-angles to the main road. There is also a long, panelled bar counter; note the doors to service the beer engines in former times, and the original bar-back. There are fine etched windows on the side elevation but mostly sadly removed from the front. The large room on the right (now a restaurant) was originally a music room.

An imposing corner-site pub built in 1898 to designs by architect, R. A. Lewcock. It has a spacious, light interior enriched with some particularly spectacular and appealing decoration. Pride of place goes to the series of four copper relief panels by designer F. A. Callcott depicting eighteenth-century ladies and gents at leisure at the supposed antecedent of the present pub. They are variously pictured enjoying a game of bowls, drinking and smoking, watching the inn sign being painted, and taking the waters at Kilburn Wells, the spa that lay nearby to the south. There is a deep and superbly ornate Florentine frieze in both main rooms and also a richly decorated ceiling. When built the main space would have been much more subdivided than it is now but there is still one screen surviving: it was moved to its present position during a major refurbishment in 2003, before which it was at right-angles to the main road. Long, panelled bar counter and original bar-back. Fine etched windows on the side elevation but mostly sadly removed from the front. The large room on the right (now a restaurant) was originally a music room.

Full Description