Duke Of York, London

Used by the wartime Fitzrovia literary crowd who gleefully described encounters with razor gangs and in particular the novelist Anthony Burgess is thought to have used his wife's 1943 experience of them in his later novel, Clockwork Orange. The story goes that his wife Lynne witnessed a razor gang rampage when they poured beer on the floor and when she complained, they pulled pint after pint and forced her to drink them. When Lynne managed to do so the gang was vastly impressed and gave her the money for all the beer they had wasted. Perhaps the drinking feat was easier with the watery wartime beer? In the 1940s and 1950s landlord Major Alf Klein used to initiate male customers by snipping off their ties; his collection grew to over 1500. His great dane, named Colonel, starred in the title role in the film Hound of the Baskervilles. It was partial to drinking customers' beer. Later on in the 1960s the South African Blues Notes quintet played here, escaping apartheid and influencing the British jazz scene of the time. Singer/songwriters Donovan and Ian Dury were also regulars here, as was David "Del Boy" Jason in the 1980s. Not but a few authors have given the pub a mention in their memoirs, including Anthony Burgess and Jeffrey Bernard. 20th century pop 'legends' who have drunk here over the years include Rod Stewart, Paul Jones, Johnnie Ray, and John Lee Hooker.