Coach and Horses, Soho

The Coach and Horses, situated on the corner of Greek Street and Romilly Street, is a building that has held a public house license since the early eighteenth century. While the current structure dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, the pub became an unlikely center of British media and bohemian culture in the twentieth century. For over sixty years, it was presided over by Norman Balon, a man who cultivated a public persona as the rudest landlord in London. Balon greeted customers with overt contempt, yet his pub served as a vital sanctuary for the staff of the satirical magazine Private Eye and other literary figures who found his abrasive style uniquely honest.