‘Steeles’ set for new owners - Haverstock Hill pub to change hands for first time in 25 years

Published: 10 February 2011
by TOM FOOT

ONE of Camden’s most celebrated and booming pubs is set to change hands after 25 years.

Paul Davies and Kirk McGrath, co-landlords of the Sir Richard Steele pub in Haverstock Hill, are in negotiations with a modern bar chain.

Mr Davies, 52, said: “We have been talking about handing over the torch for some time. It got to the stage when I didn’t want to be involved in running the place anymore. No contracts have been signed but we should know more by next week.”

Regulars ­– an eclectic mix of old-style locals and celebrities – fear the takeover could strip the “Steeles” of its unique character and raffish charm.

Mr Davies, who also owns The Pineapple pub in Kentish Town, said: “We are always more packed than most and I think that’s because the staff don’t make a distinction between the regulars.” He added: “Quite frankly, whoever comes in would be mad to change it.”

Staff told the New Journal the pub’s success was down to “keeping the food on the side” and that was “why it hasn’t gone the way of the other ­gastropubs”.

Most of the pub’s interior bric-a-brac will remain as part of the deal but the centrepiece ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ wall display – a Davies family heirloom – and the clown in the upstairs function room will be removed.

The pub is named after Sir Richard Steele, the Irish writer and politician who wrote: “People spend their lives in the service of their passions instead of employing their passions in the ser­vice of their lives.”