The Magdala

15-03-2009
Editor Notting Hill  0 

London Pubs Group Evening Crawl of Hampstead

Just off the junction of South End Road at 2a South Hill Park is the Magdala, named after the 1868 battle of the same name. This involved British and Ethiopian forces, with Sir Charles Napier commanding the British and the Ethiopians under Emperor Tewodros II. The British won the battle, after which Tewodros committed suicide. Previously, the moderniser Tewodros had realised the importance of powerful weapons and asked Britain for assistance in making cannons. When this was refused, he kidnapped a group of 60 European diplomats and missionaries and instructed them to build a cannon for him, prompting Britain to mount an expedition to Ethiopia using British and Indian troops. Napier was subsequently created 1st Baron Napier of Magdala and was also remembered in the Lord Napier in Goodmayes and Napier Arms in Woodford.

Although the fabric of the Magdala is mid-Victorian, it later underwent a thorough mid-30s modernisation including buff ground floor exterior tiling and attractive green and clear glass leaded windows. These are absolutely typical of former Charrington's pubs and can be found all over the capital, albeit in steadily declining numbers. In some cases, horizontal sections sometimes carried the brewery's name or other lettering, whilst oval-shaped pieces of glass often bore the company's trademark toby jug symbol. Some of these decorated panes in pubs appear to have been replaced by plain glass under Bass Charrington's ownership, perhaps during 'modernisation'. Certainly many others have gone since; though it may be possible that others were never lettered in the first place and were blank from new (for the record, the Cooper's Arms in Kilburn High Road still has an exceptional set of such lettered glass).

Most of the pub now has a dull modern look, but on the right is a pleasant and remarkably intact room from the 1930s. Walls are elegantly wood-panelled to half height, above which is low-key Art Deco frieze. The counter is panelled in the style of the walls and the picture is completed by a Tudor-style pink marble fireplace. Beerwise, the Magdala was offering Greene King IPA and Fuller's London Pride.

Of course the Magdala's main claim to fame nowadays is for being where Ruth Ellis shot her abusive lover, David Blakely, on Easter Sunday 1955. For many years it was claimed that bullet holes were still visible on the exterior tiling but other sources have since suggested that these were actually 'improved' or even created by a former landlord keen to cash in on the notoriety. The present owners acknowledge the event in a restrained way in the form of a framed newspaper cutting.

http://www.camranorthlondon.org.uk/londonpubsgroup/crawls.htm

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