The Chequers, St James's - pub details
Address: 16 Duke Street, St James's, London, London, SW1Y 6DB [map] [gmap]
Tel: 020 7930 4007
Piccadilly Circus (0.2 miles), Green Park (0.2 miles), Leicester Square (0.5 miles)
London Charing Cross (0.6 miles), London Victoria (1 mile), London Waterloo (1.2 miles)
Pub added by steve. Last visited on 6th Dec 2007.
NB: Information may be incomplete or out of date as this pub is not currently registered.
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other pubs nearby:
Walkers of St James, St James (0.0 miles), S and P, St James's (0.0 miles), Studio Lounge, Piccadilly (0.1 miles), Red Lion, St James (0.1 miles), Golden Lion, St James's (0.1 miles) - see more nearby pubs
user reviews of the Chequers, St James's
please note - reviews on this site are purely the opinion of site visitors, so don't take them too seriously.
| St James's is somewhere you are unlikely to visit unless you work in the area or have expensive tastes in art or shirts. There's certainly little reason to go out of your way to spend time in the Chequers Tavern. This pub is terrifyingly average. Sure, there's a bit of history and, yes, the beer is alright but I came away with a completely blank feeling. Fine for a pint or two after office hours but that's it. And don't bother with the food, which is mediocre verging on inedible. DholeMoney - 26 Jun 2008 23:19 |
| Originally the Masons Arms after the stone masons yard situated behind pub.According to Pub history, the pub was opened for the masons prepraing the stone work for the building of the nearby St James Palace and they used the pub as a base for playing chequers. By 1751 it had simply become known as the Chequers pub and the name has stuck ever since. The earliest records date from 1731 however as the nearby Palace was built some 40 years earlier, we can assume that there has been an pub here in one form or another since the end of the 17th century. The current building has a Victorian facade but theinterior is considerably older. The quaint, carpeted L shaped interior is quite small even allowing for the original rooms being knocked through. The décor is fairly simple with plain walls and a slightly wonky but heavily painted burgundy ceiling. There are various plates, bottles and figurines dotted around the high shelves and traditional features like patterned windows and a bar frame are still intact. A quite disproportionately sized plasma screen dominates the front of the bar. There are usually 3 Ales, Pride, Directors + 1 guest (Theakstons on my last trip) and an orderly collection of previous guest beer pump clips can be viewed behind the bar. 60’s music lovers will be interested in taking a short detour down the passage at the side of the pub into Masons Yard itself. No 6 was the art gallery where John Lennon first met Yoko Ono who was holding an exhibition there, No 9 was the photographic studio of Gered Mankowitz who took many classic photos here of legends such as Hendrix and the Stones and No 13 was the Scotch Of St James Club that hosted many famous 60’s bands and was a famous Swinging 60’s hang out. I think we can safely assume that the Chequeres was probably the 60's equivalent of Camden's Hawley Arms. RogerB - 6 Feb 2008 15:00 |
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