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Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, London (closed 2025)
Early in my career, I was going through a difficult chapter in work and life. Having moved down to London from Glasgow, I felt socially untethered, unsure of where I belonged. I yearned to feel part of a gang like I’d done back home, but I had no clue about how to find one.
A bruising experience of redundancy hadn’t helped matters. In desperation, I’d taken a job on a business magazine writing about textile-industry share prices. At the time I barely knew a PE ratio from a wheel of brie. And by the time I left the following year, I still didn’t, for reasons that will become apparent.
Fortunately, the three other young women I joined on the news desk were equally disenchanted. On my first day, a bloke with a basket of sandwiches did the rounds. These were wolfed down at speed, al desko. I’d barely swallowed the last crust when the trio hustled me out of the building. We dashed across north London’s multilane Finchley Road to a faux Swiss chalet plonked in the middle of a roundabout.
This surreal hostelry was Ye Olde Swiss Cottage, a former coaching inn that dates back to the 1830s. Gin and tonics swiftly ordered, my new deskmates filled me in on the office politics – the dos and don’ts, the scurrilous rumours. Evidently non-business chat was strongly discouraged by the glamorous but chilly editor. An anaesthetic was required to get us through long afternoons of pretending to work.
The pub was draughty, grotty and peculiar. Maybe if they had gone the whole hog and offered fondue and glühwein, it would have worked. But a jukebox blasting out 1970s bangers, a migraine-inducing carpet and leaded windows did little to create alpine ambience. The outdoor beer garden could have been nice – if it didn’t basically overlook a motorway. However, the booze was cheap and the staff were cheery. It became our sanctuary.
Workplace friendships can be great but, depending on the culture, they often benefit from space offsite to flourish. I’m sure that the pub’s absurd decor was an extra ingredient that helped us all to bond. The kind and loyal friendship offered by my colleagues proved transformative. Finally I was part of a wonderful, supportive group. They patiently listened to my frustrations and we cheered one another on in our tentative escape plans. Some of us remain friends to this day.
I yearned to cover lifestyle and culture, but it felt beyond my reach. But in a funny way, the pub was to inspire my next move. Reading about its history and looking at the old photos on its walls triggered in me a new interest in the history of London’s venues. I began to view the city in a different way, and when I left that job to go freelance, I started writing about it. Not long afterwards, I got my dream job on Time Out magazine. One of my first assignments was working on the annual pub guide.
Ye Olde Swiss Cottage served its final pint in February 2025.
* There is a petition to protect the building’s status as an asset of community value, which is being challenged by its owners, Samuel Smith’s brewery
English (US) ·