The Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead

In my opinion the Dule of Hamilton is all that a traditional English public house should be and I am proud that it is my local. Always an excellent choice of real ales, real ciders & perries (cider brewed from pears, not apples) on tap, always in pristine condition,great friendly banter and brilliant atmosphere coupled with excellent service & value for money from Richard & his staff that really are knowledgeable about the wide range of products they sell.

Tell me where else in Hampstead can you get a pint of real ale for �2.50, bottles of wine & champagne for �9.00 and �25.00 respectively and a large house spirit and mixer for just �2.50? At lunchtimes you can sink your teeth into a hearty filled roll for a mere �1.00.

It really pisses me off to read the moranic & insensitive comments that some of you have written about a family who have devoted so much of their working lives to give people such an excellent pub to enjoy.

The "Duke" has been in the same private family ownership for almost twenty years and is the longest-reigning privately-owned free house for miles around so surely the Wooderson family have been doing something right all these years. Michael, well over normal retirement age & wife Mary have now taken more-or-less a back seat, spending most of their well-earned retirement on the south coast and have handed the reigns over to their eldest son Richard who is maintaining the same high standards that we locals have come to enjoy & respect over the years.

Thank God the "Duke" has not followed the masses and gone down the gastro road like so many pubs have. There are only two really traditional pubs in Hampstead (this one and the King William IV) so stop whining and give this place your best shot. Who knows, you may even grow to liking it. Fortunately the "Duke" does not have to rely on strangers and day-trippers since its loyal and very strong customer base does it proud, thank you. However we locals are a very friendly and amusing lot, this some of you will discover if you only give us a chance.

Maybe some of you don't realise that there really is no such thing as bad publicity. In fact, quite the opposite has worked here since the pub has had visitors coming in purely out of curiosity having read bad reviews to the effect that some of them are now quite regular customers!

Fortunately we locals at the "Duke" do not have to put up with gaming machines, pool tables and a juke box. The pub is very much a sporting house with the accent mainly on cricket and rugby, matches being shown on their plasma screen. Traditional pub games such as darts and dominoes are also played. A group of local musicians play sing-along in the main bar on Thursday evenings and the well-stocked basement bar is available for private functions; this also hosts a showcase evening for up-and-coming musicians on Monday evenings.

Recently the pub hosted a cider & perry festival with almost thirty real products on sale together with a hog roast on the front patio that was extremely well supported.

A real ale festival is being planned for September to follow the successes of last year's one and their recent cider & perry event so do yourselves a favour and check out the "Duke"- you won't be disappointed!

So let's have a little less of the negativity in the future and more of a positive attitude!

John Graham

Holford Road
Hampstead Village NW3
John Graham

27 Aug 2008 19:45