London Ghosts

A moment from 1989 involving two pubs, either side of Oxford St… the Hog in the Pound on South Molton St closed in 2011 and got demolished, while the Henry Holland on Duke St is still standing. Around that time (Aug 1989) yes, there had been posters down the Tube that featured the crater from the first V-2 (Chiswick, 8 Sept 1944), which killed three people. But still… even figuratively thinking of that product, where I was… and scribbling a lone verse on the back of it the next day…

I didn’t know it then but the Henry Holland only got its name when rebuilt in 1958 from the destruction of a pub on the very spot where another V-2 hit, on 6 Dec 1944. (The pub had been called the Red Lion and that rocket left eighteen dead, of whom eight were Americans). These details come from the londonremembers.com website (see below). RIP

The Red Lion had stood on the first corner on the left.