Viva Brighton September 2015 Issue #31

its and bobs
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Pub: the colonnade
“He’s called Willie,” says Paul, outgoing
manager of the Colonnade pub on New
Road, about the slightly creeps-inducing
automaton that welcomes visitors into
the bar. “Nobody seems to know how
long he’s been here, but a customer who
was an expert on suits told me the one
he’s wearing would have been made in
the 1890s.”
I’m having a chat with Paul about the
history of the place, which is owned by
the Theatre Royal, and run by the family
pubco The Golden Lion Group, as a
freehold. He won’t switch Willie on because
“he’s delicate, and anyway he’s not
plugged in”, but on a good day he’ll doff
his top hat to you. He used to be clockwork,
but his innards were electrified in
the fifties or sixties.
The building used to house a cobbler’s,
apparently, before being converted into
a ‘Refreshment Rooms’, then into a
‘Wine and Supper Rooms’, and then, in
1854, into ‘The Colonnade Hotel’, with
rooms upstairs. It was renovated in the
1890s, at some expense, judging from
the elegantly glazed green terracotta
exterior, and intricate etched-glass panels.
In this period the colonnade which
shelters the entrance from the rain used
to be the pick-up point for town-centre
prostitutes. “After the show,” says Paul,
“you could hire out-of-work actresses
for the night”.
The proximity to the theatre means it’s
packed three times an evening: before
and after the show, and during intervals.
Often the actors come in, and many
of them have left their publicity cards,
which are framed on the wall, “but only if we like them.” I
spot George Cole, Lionel Blair, and, remarkably enough, Judy
Garland (when was she in town?) “Rowan Atkinson was here
in the winter,” says Paul. “He was a very nice man.” I ask Paul
which celebrities he hasn’t liked, but he’s too discreet to tell me.
A little bit of research reveals that, before his time presumably,
Sean Connery was at least once a visitor, and Dora Bryan was
quite a regular.
The faded grandeur of the place takes some beating, making
the Colonnade quite a fun place to take visitors who want their
Brighton experience to be a bit Patrick Hamilton (though a
post-smoking-ban £50,000 renovation means it isn’t quite as
shabby-chic as it used to be). And, as they don’t do food, it’s an
excellent place for a quiet lunchtime pint; if your appetite for
one makes it past their sinister doorman, that is. AL
Painting by Jay Collins
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