C’est La Way
The Free French
Force to be reckoned with
FRENCH HOUSE 49 Dean St
The French House is Soho royalty.
The connection to France runs deep: and it remains defiantly European in character.
The pub was opened by a German national named Christian Schmitt in 1891 and traded it as The "York Minster".
Schmidtt’s wife Bertha continued to run the pub after his death but sold up in 1914 when, at the outbreak of the First World War, a great deal of anti German feeling arose in Britain. The pub was sold to a Belgian, Victor Berlemont.
The bill of sale is posted on a wall at the French House to this day. Berlemont ran it for 40 years and was succeeded by his son Gaston, Gaston who was born in the pub and worked there until his retirement in 1989.
It was informally called "the French pub" or " house" by its regulars The name was only officially changed in 1984 after a fire at the real York Minster - the actual Cathedral in York. Contributions toward the Cathedral restoration fund started arriving at the pub! Upon forwarding them, Gaston Berlemont discovered that the cathedral had been receiving deliveries of claret intended for him!
During World War II, after the fall of France, General de Gaulle escaped to London and The French House served as the unofficial headquarters of the Free French Forces- it is said that his speech, rallying the French people, "À tous les Français" was written in the pub.
The speech was de Gaulle speaking to the French from exile on the day after France fell to the Nazis, June 1940.
It was the beginning of Radio Londres- famous for morale boosting broadcasts from France to England- complete with the often amusing and obviously coded messages intended for the Resistance which were introduced with the words "Before we begin, please listen to some personal messages.”
1921 lease £300 paid to take on the York Minster which became known as The French House - Westminster Archives
On a side note, Kate realises while writing this that my Grandfather, Edward Ashcroft, must’ve hung out there at the time. He was running the BBC World Service and became De Gaulle’s biographer. Family lore says Teddy gambled away a Francis Bacon painting. Which is galling!
The French has no TV, no music, no fruit machines and a no phone policy.
So put your phone away before you walk in for a drink- if you miss looking at pictures while you’re there then take some moments to study the many historical photographs on the wall that the French boasts.
This is a drinking and talking pub which also famously serves no pints—only half measures of beer, a tradition that goes back over a century to Gaston's day- the French House has generally stayed elusive as to why that is but one story tells that it was due to Sailors having the annoying habit of smashing their pint glasses after draining them.
A recent custom has seen 1st April to be the only day to get a pint here when musician Suggs serves the first pint of the day. The French House also sells more pastice than anywhere else in Britain- if that’s your thing
photo by WILLY RONIS See the Absinthe tap in this 1955 view of the French
Artists, writers, drunks, and dreamers have packed this tiny place for decades—Dylan Thomas, Lucian Freud, and countless others made it their local
The Soho Waiters’ Race begins and ends at the French, it dates back to the 1950s and happens on the day of the Soho Fete Competitors compete for the Waiter’s cup and a cash prize by running an 800 m circuit - holding a tray with a bottle of champagne, a glass and an ashtray.
Now we totter out of the French across Shaftesbury Avenue to Gerrard St under the Chinese lanterns and through the archway of China town.