| The Warwick Castle | |
|---|---|
.JPG) The Warwick Castle | |
 Interactive map of The Warwick Castle | |
| Type | Public house |
| Location | Warwick Place, Maida Vale, London |
| Coordinates | 51°31′19.6″N0°11′1.57″W / 51.522111°N 0.1837694°W /51.522111; -0.1837694 |
| Built | 1846 |
Listed Building – Grade II | |
| Official name | NUMBERS 1 TO 5 AND WARWICK CASTLE PUBLIC HOUSE |
| Designated | 01-Dec-1987 |
| Reference no. | 1273925 |
TheWarwick Castle is agrade II listedpublic house at Warwick Place,Maida Vale, London, that was built in 1846. It and Warwick Place were named after Jane Warwick, the bride of the original landowner. The pub is mentioned in the biographies of a number of music figures and London "characters".
The pub dates from 1846 and is grade II listed withHistoric England along with the whole of the terrace of numbers 1 to 5 Warwick Place on the north side of the street.[2] Among the architectural details mentioned by Historic England in their listing are the scrolled iron lamp and sign brackets for the pub.[3] The pub and the street took their name from the original landowner, who married Jane Warwick ofWarwick Hall, near Carlisle, in 1778.[2] Brian Spiller speculates in his bookVictorian Public Houses that the pub's "discreet location in a cul-de-sac may have made it a refuge for domestic servants from the neighbouring stucco villas and terraces".[4]
It featured inMaurice Gorham's 1939 bookThe Local, and his 1949 follow-up volume,Back to the Local, both with illustrations of the pub by the artistEdward Ardizzone, including the front cover of the 1949 volume.[5][6] Ardizzone lived in Maida Vale for most of his life, and Gorham was his regular drinking partner.[7]
Regular customers have included the Welsh drug smuggler and authorHoward Marks, who recounts in his autobiographyMr. Nice that he concluded a drug deal there, while half of a consignment of Thaigrass was hidden in a car parked outside.[8]
Music entrepreneurRichard Branson was a regular at the pub in the 1970s, early in his career, when his office was a barge on theGrand Union Canal about 100m away.Michael Caborn-Waterfield, known for setting up the firstAnn Summers sex shop in 1970, was also a customer,[9] as was the musicianRick Wakeman in the 1980s, when he lived in nearby Elgin Mansions.[10]
![The listed terrace of 1 to 5 Warwick Place[3]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWarwick_Castle%2c_Maida_Vale_02.JPG)
![Scrolled iron lamp and sign brackets mentioned by Historic England[3]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aThe_Warwick_Castle_-_Pub_Sign.jpg)
51°31′20″N0°11′02″W / 51.522110°N 0.18376933°W /51.522110; -0.18376933
