London Pubs Group

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

Black Lion

The Black Lion
123 Bayswater Road
Bayswater
W2 3JH

Although this pub is not a listed building it has some striking interior features.

Said to have been an alehouse about 1700 and to have been a coaching inn in the C18. The pub was built in 1889 to designs by R. A. Lewcock. The interior is completely refitted but does retain some fine copper relief panels on the right-hand wall depicting scenes from the Taming of the Shrew: they are the work of Frederick T. Callcott: he was probably responsible for hammered brass panels of historical scenes at the Black Lion, Kilburn, also designed by Lewcock. A relative of Callcott, Charles William Callcott, went into partnership with Lewcock in 1898.

In June 2014 the pub’s freehold was sold for £27 million. The new owners have agreed to continue to run the pub for “an agreed period” but will probably redevelop the building in due course.

The Black Lion featured on the Evening Crawl of Maida Vale and Bayswater in December 2005, and the Buzzing About: Evening Crawl of Bayswater in December 2014.