Pillars of Hercules, Soho

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The Pillars of Hercules
The pub in 2008
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General information
Address	7 Greek Street London W1
Coordinates	51°30′52″N 0°07′52″W / 51.514558°N 0.131176°W / 51.514558; -0.131176Coordinates: 51°30′52″N 0°07′52″W / 51.514558°N 0.131176°W / 51.514558; -0.131176

Bar Hercules, historically the Pillars of Hercules, is a pub in Greek Street, Soho, London, originally named for the Pillars of Hercules of antiquity. Most of what exists was built around 1910, but the pub dates back to 1733.^[1] The road at the side of the pub through the arch is named Manette Street, after Dr Manette, one of the characters from A Tale Of Two Cities, who is described in the book as living near Soho Square.

More recently, the pub has been favoured by many figures from the London literary scene, including Martin Amis, Ian Hamilton, Julian Barnes and Ian McEwan. Clive James named his second book of literary criticism (At the Pillars of Hercules) after it, apparently because that was where most of the pieces within it were commissioned, delivered or written. Singer Nick Drake is also said to have frequented the pub during his time in London,^[2] and theatre designer Sean Kenny drank there with his staff in the 1960s, their design studio being a few steps from the pub's back door.^{[citation needed]}

The pub closed on 24 February 2018,^[3] reopening later in the year as Bar Hercules under new owners .^[4]

Sources[]

References[]

• Wheatley, Henry Benjamin (2011), Round about Piccadilly and Pall Mall: Or, a Ramble from the Haymarket to Hyde Parkvb (illustrated ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 9781108036504
• Knight, Charles, ed. (1851), Knight's cyclopædia of London, London, p. 789

External links[]

• https://londonist.com/pubs/the-pillar-of-hercules. Accessed 10 September 2017.