The Princess Louise

The Princess Louise is a historic pub in Holborn, London, renowned for its spectacularly preserved 1891 Victorian interior featuring restored etched-glass snob screens. Originally expanded in 1872 by W. and H. H. Whale, the venue was upgraded in the 1890s by Henry Whale. Now owned by Samuel Smith's Old Brewery, it contains formally listed 19th-century marble gents' urinals.

London Β· from the walk β€œLast Orders Through the Ages” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

Princess Louise, 208-209 High Holborn, London WC1V 7BW

Why do the gents' toilets at the Princess Louise pub in London have their own heritage listing?

Look at you, standing in front of one of the most jaw-dropping pub interiors in all of London. This is The Princess Louise... and the story behind these walls is as rich as the mahogany that lines them.......... Built in eighteen seventy-two, the building you see today houses a spectacularly preserved eighteen ninety-one Victorian interior, with wood panelling and a series of booths around an island bar. But here's an important detail many guides get wrong. Although it's often described as a former gin palace, this was always a pub for ale drinkers. Gin palaces were really a phenomenon of the early to mid nineteenth century, and gin had become much less popular by the time this interior was created. The Style is gin palace... mirrors, sparkle, grandeur... but the drink was Beer.......... Now, step inside and look up. Back in eighteen seventy-two, the owners, W. and H. H. Whale, applied to expand their Holborn pub at number two oh nine next door into number two oh eight. It's from that scheme that the florid iron columns and swirly-patterned ceiling date. Then in the eighteen nineties, Henry Whale, son of H. H., did what countless other pub owners were doing and went for an ambitious upgrade.......... See those etched glass screens dividing the space into private compartments? Those are called snob screens. They allowed more upper-class drinkers to gaze at the working class section without being seen. Victorian class anxiety... made into Furniture.......... But here's the twist. In the early twentieth century, the screens were ripped out, and so things remained until two thousand and seven, when the current owners, Yorkshire brewers Samuel Smith's, under architect Michael Drain, did a magnificent thing... they put them back. The glass in the restored screens is modelled on the design of the one remaining original door panel.......... And the pub's namesake? Princess Louise, born eighteen forty-eight, was the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Described by her mother as "difficile," she led a racy lifestyle. There were several affairs with men from the world of art, and notoriously, her mentor in sculpture, Sir Joseph Boehm, died in her arms in eighteen ninety. Rumour had it he died rather... compromisingly... in his studio with the Princess present. She was also the first royal to be cremated, at Golders Green Cemetery.......... Now, the pub today is owned by Samuel Smith's Old Brewery, one of the few remaining British breweries to employ a traditional nineteenth-century Yorkshire Square fermentation system constructed of Welsh slate. Their brewing water is drawn from the original eighty-five-foot well, sunk when the site was established in seventeen fifty-eight, and the fermentation yeast has been used continuously since approximately nineteen hundred.......... And this is where it gets wonderfully eccentric. Samuel Smith's is known for being traditionally run, still using dray horses for some beer deliveries, and banning music, television, and mobile devices in its bars. So yes... put that phone away! The brewery has a zero-tolerance policy on profanity too, presenting what they call an "uncompromisingly Victorian" aesthetic.......... Before you order, one more secret. The gents' toilets, boasting marble urinals, also date back to the nineteenth century. They are of sufficient historical and architectural interest that they have their own formal listing and are therefore protected from modification or destruction. They're a piece of lavatorial magnificence only exceeded in a pub by the Philharmonic in Liverpool.......... Go inside, order a pint of Old Brewery Bitter, slide into one of those snob screen booths... and raise a glass to a scandalous princess and the Whale family who built her palace.

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