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W11 > Duke Of Clarence
Duke Of Clarence
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The Duke Of Clarence was situated at 203 Holland
Park Avenue. Closed in 2001, it was eventually demolished in 2003. |
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Fabulous pub in the mid-1970s for live music. Every Sunday lunchtime from
1974 -1976 (and maybe later) was a steel band session. Fantastic atmosphere.
Bar top made of leather. Curled up in the corners like a British Rail
sandwich. Smelt like a real pub - beer, people and nicotine. Eel and whelk
stall outside against the wall. 25p for half a pint of cockles. |
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Lindsay Jones (May 2011) |
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I was a regular at the Duke of Clarence
in the early 1970s.
The first time I visited was when I played there as part of a lounge music
duo in 1968. We used to play on Saturday nights.
Then in 1972 I was living locally and popped in one Wednesday to be
confronted by a huge folk music session. The musicians set up around a table
in the middle of the room and as more musicians arrived the circle would get
bigger. The audience would stand or sit nearby and would join in all the
songs. It was great. So great that I joined them a few weeks later and
stayed for about 18 months. The pub had a small stage in the corner which
the other bands would use. I remember that another Irish band played on
Tuesday nights. They were a four or five piece band with a female singer and
someone played the uilleann pipes. Our band (now renamed as Captain Swing)
played on Wednesdays, an avant garde jazz group played on Thursday nights
and a band called Starry Eyed and Laughing played on one of the other
nights. They got a recording contract with CBS and released an album. Sunday
afternoons were spent in the beer garden (weather permitting) reading the
Sunday papers, drinking beer and generally chilling out. |
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Dave Clemo (March 2017) |
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Worked here as a barman in summer 1986.
Landlord and landlady were Gianni and Gill Cozzolini (spelling?). Senior
barman was an Irish guy called John Ryan. Lovely pub. One day Kid Jenson
interviewed Frankie Goes To Hollywood in the pub conservatory for the
upcoming Sky TV channel. |
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Don Faller (January 2020) |
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I married my wife from Trinidad in
1971. We went, along with my wife's 3 sisters, to the steel band sessions at
the Duke of Clarence, held every Sunday lunchtime, off and on from 1972 to
1976. Always a great atmosphere, laid back and cosy. We would meet other
Trinidadians there, then go on to house parties after 2:30 pm when the pub
closed. |
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John Woodsford (September 2020) |
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I used to drink here regularly in early
80’s. A proper pub. Had wonderful wall paintings of the life of the Duke of
Clarence, very 1920s. Was sad to see that it had vanished. And yes, I well
recall the shellfish and also people selling The War Cry. Not that many
takers, but polite rebuttals. |
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Annie Green (February 2021) |
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I used to manage the band Billy Karloff & The
Extremes (formerly Streamliner). We used to play the Duke of Clarence every
Thursday night in the late 1970s. It was fun filled hard rock, sort of Ian
Dury-ish. We started with a 4 week booking and every week it grew. One
Thursday we were doing so well, maybe a couple of hundred turned up to see
us, I was busy looking for other gigs and so I left it to Gus the drummer to
collect the fee that night. We never got it. The police had been called and
the Landlord was accused of running a disreputable house as the crowd had
rioted. And that was that. The band moved on to play Saturdays at Dingwall’s
alternating with Ultravox. The last time I saw them, they supported ZZTop at
the Hammersmith Odeon. |
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Julian Moseley (June 2023) |
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