| The Hawley Arms, Camden | |
|---|---|
 The Hawley Arms after the 2008 fire | |
  The location in the London Borough of Camden | |
| General information | |
| Location | Camden Market, Camden Town, Greater London |
| Address | 2 Castlehaven Road |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°32′31″N0°08′43″W / 51.5420°N 0.1453°W |
| Completed | 1851 |
| Owner |
|
The Hawley Arms is a pub in Camden Town, London.
The Hawley Arms dates back to 1851, when it was known as the Hawley Arms Tavern. In February 1851, a brewer sued the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway over a piece of land, under which the company was able to acquire with the Lands Clauses of Consolidation Act. The land included the Hawley Arms Tavern and paid a total of £6,500 to the defendant, although it operated a pub in the name of its former tenant. The courts ruled in favor of the brewer. [1]
In the 1980s and 1990s, The Hawley Arms was known as a biker bar and lacked live music. Pub holding company Harmony Leisure bought The Hawley Arms in May 1987 for £500,000. [2] In August 1995, Searchlight reported that the bar's telephone was used by members of the neo-Nazi terrorist organization Combat 18. [3]
In 2002, Ruth Mottram and Doug Charles-Ridler bought the bar and installed a jukebox. After several years, the pub invested in an upstairs bar. [4] In 2004, pub brewer Greene King bought the pub. [5]
Singer Amy Winehouse frequented the bar until her death in 2011. Winehouse was known to order the "Rickstasy"—composed of three parts vodka, one part banana liqueur, one part Southern Comfort, and one part Baileys Irish Cream. [6] Indie rock band Razorlight was also known to appear at the bar. In April 2007, frontman Johnny Borrell was pictured with then-girlfriend Kirsten Dunst after the London premiere of Spider-Man 3 (2007). [7] Rock bands Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs were also reported drinking together by tabloid magazines. [4]
On the evening of 9 February 2008, a blaze spread throughout Camden Market, severely damaging The Hawley Arms and sectioning off the Camden area for several days. [8] The fire began at 7:00 p.m. BST in an alleyway behind The Hawley Arms [9] and firefighters were dispatched at 7:20 p.m. [10] Over 100 firefighters attempted to extinguish the fire, containing the blaze three hours later. [11] A report by the London Fire Brigade revealed that a liquefied petroleum gas heater ignited material within a clothes stall. Mottram said that the market was not regulated and expressed frustration at Camden Market Holdings Limited, the company in charge of the market. [12] During the 2008 Grammy Awards, Winehouse—having received five awards that night—screamed, "Camden Town ain't burning down!" [13]
The Hawley Arms faced difficulty in reopening, with local regulators refusing to allow a new building at the rear of Castlehaven Road. A spokesperson for the Camden London Borough Council said that the licensees of The Hawley Arms sought to redesign the building, including adding a staircase at the back of the pub. [14] Mottram and Charles-Ridler took to Glastonbury Festival 2008 to advocate for the pub and gather signatures for it to be saved. [15] The two also attended a concert for The Mighty Boosh at the Hop Farm Festival, getting comedian Noel Fielding of The Mighty Boosh, singer Katie Melua, and Babyshambles bass guitarist Drew McConnell to wear a T-shirt bearing the words "Save the Hawley". Keyboard player Stephen Large signed the petition. [16]
On 15 August, several celebrities organized a set at Dingwalls—across from The Hawley Arms—to raise funds for the pub's reconstruction. Among the personalities in attendance included Fielding, Borrell, socialite Kimberly Stewart, and actress Lois Winstone. The event was headlined by McConnell's musical collective Helsinki. Near the end of the set, Winehouse appeared, but was ushered out after an argument with the DJ. [17]
The Hawley Arms reopened on 31 October, after a three-day private party to thank supporters. [18] The owners had hoped to install a staircase at the back which would increase the size of the roof terrace, but planning permission was refused. [19]
In February 2019, Greene King had to sell The Hawley Arms due to a change in government legislation. As any developer, more interested in housing than a pub could have bought it, Mottram and Charles-Ridler decided to bid to buy the pub. To raise funds, they sold a gig setlist signed by Winehouse, and sold T-shirts, bags, and tankards with the words "Hawley Heroes". [20]
Liam Gallagher, Kate Moss, Pete Doherty, and rock band Wolf Alice have all been known to drink at The Hawley Arms. [21] [22]
The Hawley Arms features prominently in the Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer , where it is fictionalised as 'The Heart'. The pub serves as a crucial setting for a key scene in which the main character encounters the antagonist (a notorious stalker) for the first time. This meeting is pivotal to the series' narrative, establishing the conflict that drives subsequent episodes. The significance of The Hawley Arms in the storyline was highlighted by the individual identified as the real-life inspiration for the series during an interview released on Piers Morgan Uncensored on 9 May 2024. [23]
Camden Town, often shortened to Camden, is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around 2.5 miles (4.1 km) north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London.
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, itself known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
Camden Town is a London Underground station in Camden Town. It is a major junction for the Northern line, as it is where the Edgware and High Barnet branches merge from the north, and is also where they split to the south into the Bank and Charing Cross branches for the journey through Central London. It is particularly busy with visitors to the Camden markets at weekends, and, until 2019, was exit-only on Sundays to prevent overcrowding.
Fitzrovia is a district of central London, England, near the West End. The eastern part of the area is in the London Borough of Camden, and the western in the City of Westminster. It has its roots in the Manor of Tottenham Court, and was urbanised in the 18th century. Its name was coined in the late 1930s by Tom Driberg.
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues, reggae and jazz.
The Camden markets are a number of adjoining large retail markets, often collectively referred to as Camden Market or Camden Lock, located in the historic former Pickfords stables, in Camden Town, London. It is situated north of the Hampstead Road Lock of the Regent's Canal. Famed for their cosmopolitan image, products sold on the stalls include crafts, clothing, bric-a-brac, and fast food. It is the fourth-most popular visitor attraction in London, attracting approximately 250,000 people each week.
Inverness Street Market is an outdoor street market in Camden, North London. Licences to trade are issued by Camden London Borough Council.
Mark Daniel Ronson is a British-American musician and DJ based in the United States. He has won eight Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album Back to Black (2006), as well as two for Record of the Year with her 2006 single "Rehab" and his own 2014 single "Uptown Funk". He has also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for co-writing "Shallow" for the film A Star Is Born (2018). Ronson served as lead and executive producer for the soundtrack to the 2023 fantasy comedy film Barbie, on which he also composed and co-wrote several of its songs with his production partner Andrew Wyatt. The soundtrack won three Grammy Awards—"What Was I Made For?" won Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, while the parent album won Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media—from 11 nominations, as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Song from two nominations.
Dingwalls Dancehall is a live music and comedy venue adjacent to Camden Lock, Camden, London, England. The building itself is one of many industrial Victorian buildings that were put to new use in the 20th century. The original owner of the building, T.E. Dingwall, had his name painted on to the outside wall of the building, which was a common practice by businesses in Camden Town during the late Victorian era. The paint is still visible to this day, hence the venue's name.
The Camden New Journal is a British independent newspaper published in the London Borough of Camden. It was launched by editor Eric Gordon in 1982 following a two-year strike at its predecessor, the Camden Journal. The newspaper was supported by campaigning journalist Paul Foot and former Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson. It carries significant influence locally, due to its high news content, investigations and large circulation.
The Devonshire Arms is a moderately common name for an English pub. The name is for the Dukes of Devonshire, members of the peerage from a wealthy aristocratic family.
Haverstock is an area of the London Borough of Camden: specifically the east of Belsize Park, north of Chalk Farm and west of Kentish Town. It is centred on Queens Crescent and Malden Road. Gospel Oak is to the north, Camden Town to the south.
Camden Square is a rectangular town square in the London Borough of Camden running parallel to Camden Road north of central Camden. It has a playground and dog walking area, and St Paul's Church is at the north end. It has a perimeter of 200 metres (660 ft). At the south end is the London Irish Centre, which has served the boroughs' Irish community for over sixty years.
The InSpiral Lounge was an organic vegan restaurant, eco-café and events venue in Camden Lock, Camden, London, England, overlooking the Regent's Canal and Camden Market until its closure in 2016. It was the trading name of Ekopia Ltd.
Gilgamesh Restaurant Bar & Lounge was a restaurant and bar in Stables Market, Camden, London, from 2006 to 2018. Despite its Mesopotamian name and theme, the restaurant typically served South East Asian, Chinese and Japanese-inspired eclectic cuisine.
"Pegasus" is the pseudonym and signature of a North London street artist. The artist, born 1988, is originally from Chicago but best known for his work in England. His stencilled pieces play with popular culture's most recognizable icons, including Marilyn Monroe, JFK, Amy Winehouse, and Lucille Ball, and sometimes are ironic or controversial. The artist has stated that his influences include "the genius Andy Warhol. I also admire other artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Keith Haring, Mr. Brainwash, Darren West the Neon Artist, Horace Panter, Eelus and of course Mr. Banksy." He told Evening Standard that always listens to Madonna as he works and his work "tends to have elements of her character".
The Dublin Castle is a pub and live music venue in Camden Town, London. It gained prominence as a venue in the late 1970s after the band Madness established a live reputation there. Subsequently, it was an important venue in the early stages of several bands' careers and contributed to the Britpop musical genre. Amy Winehouse was a regular visitor to the pub.
A bronze statue of the British singer Amy Winehouse is located at the Stables Market in Camden Town, in north London. Sculpted by Scott Eaton, it was unveiled in 2014, three years after the singer's death.
