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Picture source: Chris Amies

The Six Bells was situated at 197 King's Road and is now a Henry J Bean's restaurant. Publican in 1795 was John Martin Deschlein.

I wish they wouldn't do that. My friend Peter and I were in London after many years in Canada and agreed to meet up at the Six Bells on Thursday and compare notes. After cabbing up and down King's Road, I couldn't find anyone who had heard of it and began to think I was in the Twilight Zone especially when I asked a bobby (who was shorter and more musclebound than the ones I remember) and he looked at me and then at my girlfriend who was taking a picture of him and snarled  'Ere you woont be miking a gime of me woodjoo Guv'nor? which I didn't really understand but he looked so pissed off that I beat a hasty apologetic retreat and we never saw Peter again till we got back to Vancouver.

Bullus Hutton

In the early 1900s it was the local pub for a set of artists including Augustus John,  Martin Shaw https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shaw_(composer) and Edward Gordon Craig, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Gordon_Craig who both lived opposite at Trafalgar Studios.    Craig wrote to Martin Shaw from the Continent in 1905  "I’m coming over one day specially to see you – I’m sure an hour at the 6 Bells would do us all the funny good in the world.”

Isobel Platings, Martin Shaw’s grand-daughter (April 2017)

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