The French House
Look at the building in front of you... number forty-nine Dean Street. See the blue awnings, the French tricolour flying outside? This is The French House — Soho's most gloriously eccentric pub. And its story is Full of contradictions.
London · from the walk “Soho's Secret Side”
49 Dean Street, London W1D 5BE
Look at the building in front of you... number forty-nine Dean Street. See the blue awnings, the French tricolour flying outside? This is The French House — Soho's most gloriously eccentric pub. And its story is Full of contradictions.
It was opened in eighteen ninety-one by a German national named Christian Schmitt, and traded as the York Minster. A German pub, in the heart of Soho. But here's where it gets interesting. When the First World War broke out, Schmitt's widow sold the pub to a Belgian named Victor Berlemont, who'd moved to London in nineteen hundred. Victor was the First foreigner to become the landlord of a British pub, and with his French accent and extravagant moustache, he lent the place a Gallic air.
So... a German pub, run by a Belgian, pretending to be French. Only in Soho.
Victor was a fan of boxing and actually installed a Ring in the basement for his hero, the French boxer Carpentier, to take on those who dared. Imagine — prize fights in the cellar of this tiny pub!
Then came the war that would define this place forever. After the fall of France during the Second World War, General Charles de Gaulle escaped to London where he formed the Free French Forces. His famous speech rallying the French people — "À tous les Français" — is Said to have been written in the pub. Right upstairs, in that small room above the bar. Though there's no real evidence to support this — it's just one of the many wonderful stories woven into its fabric over the years.
The pub's French associations drew other visitors, including Maurice Chevalier and Edith Piaf.
Victor's son Gaston Berlemont was born in the pub in nineteen fourteen, and worked there until his retirement in nineteen eighty-nine. Like his father, he wore a handlebar moustache, and with his pastis-drinking and extravagant hand kissing, he laid on the French charm. Regulars knew full well his father was actually Belgian... yet he got away with it because he was Kind. He used to cash cheques for regulars even knowing they'd bounce — one of Soho's unofficial banks.
When Gaston finally retired, he chose the Frenchest date he possibly could... July fourteenth, nineteen eighty-nine — the two hundredth anniversary of the fall of the Bastille.
Now, about that famous half-pint rule. Beer is served in half pints Only. This stems from an incident in the nineteen twenties when a bunch of rowdy sailors used their pint glasses as weapons and smashed each other over the heads. The Berlemonts decided — never again.
And the literary legends? Brendan Behan wrote large portions of "The Quare Fellow" here, and Dylan Thomas once allegedly left the manuscript of "Under Milk Wood" under his chair. Though some historians skeptically suspect this never actually happened.
The French still boasts a bohemian clientele and encourages good conversation with a no music, no machines, and no television rule. No phones either. Just people... actually Talking to each other. In the age of scrolling, this tiny pub might be the most radical place in London.