The Sir Richard Steele

About The Sir Richard Steele

A pub with an ornate interior and bohemian atmosphere on Haverstock Hill, named after the eighteenth-century essayist and playwright Richard Steele.

Sitting halfway between Belsize Park and Chalk Farm stations, this pub takes its name from the Irish writer and politician Sir Richard Steele (1672-1729), co-founder of magazines such as The Tatler and The Spectator, who lived in the area. With its ornate décor, pictures and curios gathered over decades, it was a popular haunt on the London Britpop scene during the nineties, and has weathered several threats of conversion to housing thanks to its designation as an 'asset of community value'. The building is owned by Kicking Horse 3 Ltd, an independent company with no ties to the big brewery chains, which has let it keep its eccentric personality against the homogenising trend of other pubs in the area. It books live music regularly and draws a younger crowd than other Hampstead classics.