Farewell, Swiss Cottage

Another day, another dead pub. This is the former Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, in the neighborhood of the same name, which I pass through on my walks to and from work. The pub, which I depicted a couple of times on this blog even though I never went inside myself, closed on February 1. The wrought iron rooftop sign and ornamental lampposts have already been removed, leaving the building forlorn.

It's right next to the Swiss Cottage tube station, and in fact apparently gave its name not only to the station but the entire neighborhood. If you want more history, read Matt Brown's article from Londonist -- he notes that although there's been a pub here since at least the early 1800s, the widening of Finchley Road in the 1960s left it standing on a traffic island, and "a pint in the Swiss Cottage beer garden was less like sitting on the shores of Lake Geneva and more like the Zurich western bypass."

That's pretty much why I never went there. Despite the cozy chalet-style architecture, Ye Olde Swiss Cottage always seemed rather inaccessible amid a sea of concrete and busy roadways -- even though all it took to get there was crossing the street. (You could even avoid the traffic fumes, sort of, by using a subterranean footpath -- or subway, as the British say.)

Although the owners removed the signage and probably anything else of value, they left behind the flowers, which is kind of sad.

Farewell, Swiss Cottage. I hardly knew ye. (Or perhaps I should say "uf widerluege," although apparently that technically means "until we see each other again" and I'm not sure that's going to happen.)