Live Sports — Pubs in Chelsea

Following closure due due to insolvency in Feb 2020 the pub reopened under new management at the start of November 2021. Awaiting new details of beers, kitchen hours etc.. Meantime, the following description and most of the other details on this page relate to the pub's previous incarnation. Converted, at some stage, from a multi-room pub into one with a single space wrapped around an 'L'-shaped bar, the Pig's Ear is light and airy. The wood panelling has been painted, but the floor stripped and sealed. The red ceiling enhances the tiffany shades over the bar counter, itself panel-fronted and metal-topped. The back bar is of oak and there is a lovely fireplace, used in appropriate weather. The upstairs dining room has a more traditional feel about it; the panelling has been left varnished and a magnificent fireplace and large mirror dominate the room. The Pig's Ear is a deservedly popular pub, one of the small London-based Union Bars grouping. It is noted for its French influenced British food. There is a bargain limited choice lunch menu during the week.

Chelsea Potter

119 Kings Road, Chelsea SW3 4PL

CAMRA Discount

Built as a beer house in 1843 and enlarged in the 1890s, this pub was called the Commercial Tavern until 1956 when it was renamed after William de Morgan, founder of the nearby Chelsea Pottery. Note the attractive canted bay window and the glazing bar divided windows along the Radnor Walk frontage, adorned with hanging baskets, where the outside tables are available. Inside, now a comfortable one bar pub, its high ceiling supported on slender scroll-topped columns, is furnished with a mixture of high and low tables, chairs and stools. A bare boarded floor, plenty of carved wood and a variety of mirrors add to the atmosphere. A pub-grub menu is offered. Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones are reputed to have once been customers; now it attracts a passing trade as well as the local regulars.

Builders Arms

13 Britten Street, Chelsea SW3 3TY

Family Friendly

Built to serve the needs of masons and workmen employed in the construction of St. Luke's church opposite, erected 1820-24, it later served as the tap for Matthews & Cannings Anchor Brewery which stood next door. The brewery was taken over by Whitbread in 1899 with brewing continuing until 1907. Now it is a modernised, trendy but friendly venue with separate areas: the Nook, the Dining Room and the Bar. Sofas and comfortable seating plus trademark Hippo Inns quirky decor such as gold pineapple wall lights. Three real ales and an extensive food menu. The lease of the pub reverted to Ei Group who reopened it under the Hippo Inns managed partnership in August 2019.

Sporting Page

6 Camera Place, Chelsea SW10 0BH

Dog Friendly

Rebuilt in 1974 as the Red Anchor on the site of the Odell Arms (1856-1971) and renamed in 1989, a vestige of the Victorian era remains in the salvaged Victorian lamp over the door of this pub in the back streets between the Fulham Road and the Embankment. Now part of the small London-based Food & Fuel chain, it has become a comfortable one bar gastropub with a friendly feel. Three handpumps offer a choice of real ales, often including some from London breweries. An interesting wine selection complements the food offering. Sporting themed prints and memorabilia adorn the walls. Keep an eye on the pub website for offers.

Chelsea Ram

32 Burnaby Street, Chelsea SW10 0PL

Evening Meals

Built in 1887 as the Ashburnham Arms by the Royal Chelsea Brewery on a provisional licence which, unfortunately for the brewery, was not confirmed by the Middlesex licensing justices. The premises remained vacant until 1892 when it was occupied by the St John's Ashburnham Institute. It eventually became licensed in 1984 when it was bought by Young’s; it is located near the former Lots Road Power Station and Auction Rooms. Refurbished by Young's with a light and spacious gastro-pub ambience, it has not lost its original community atmosphere. The pub is split into a main bar area and a large dining room to the rear; there are distinctive arched windows with the Ram symbol etched in the glass. The staff show commitment to beer quality plus an emphasis on good food availability, including daily specials. The pub’s signature dish is Dorset lamb shank shepherd’s pie, slow cooked for 12 hours.

Hollywood Arms

45 Hollywood Road, Chelsea SW10 9HX

Function Room

Up-market side street local built in 1865 (1856 notice on pub’s front is wrong) probably by the Godwins according to Pevsner, although the local council gives the builders as Corbett & McClymont. Grade II listed building. Now an elegant, airy modern style pub following recent "refurbishment"; but at least the refurb left some etched and cut glass at the front of the pub. At the back of the pub, the tabloid press has reported a "secret entrance" used by VIPs! Fresh & seasonal food is prepared in-house daily and includes Sunday roasts. For events see pub website.

Kings Arms

190 Fulham Road, Chelsea SW10 9PN

Evening Meals

Striking combination of old and new. Built in 1861 by Bayswater builder Edwin Curtis; not a listed building but it has remarkable interior tilework and typical Geronimo "shabby-chic" decor.

Fox & Pheasant

1 Billing Road, Chelsea SW10 9UJ

Family Friendly

Traditional Pub Games

Under new ownership (so saved from possible redevelopment) and sensitively refurbished and extended during a fifteen month closure, the Fox & Pheasant re-opened in late June 2018, welcoming back drinkers and diners to a quintessentially British and charmingly vibrant country pub on the Chelsea-Fulham border. The two original bars were restored to their original appearance; an olive tree-filled conservatory (with a retractable roof for summer) was added at the rear; and, on the second floor, a secluded, wood-panelled private dining room that seats up to 22 was created. Once inside, you could be excused for thinking that you were in a rural setting instead of just a few yards from the busy Fulham Road and close to Chelsea football ground! You enter a small lobby with an off-sales hatch to the servery and doors to the former public bar, to the left, and the larger saloon bar on the right. The interior is a typical modest pub-fitting from between the wars, now quite rare, albeit more comfortably furnished for the twenty-first century. Built in the late 1840s, at the same time as the canal-worker cottages beyond it, the pub has an unusual curved section dividing the frontage, believed to have resulted from litigation concerning the line of the road. Originally the Prince of Wales, by 1861 it had been renamed the Bedford Arms, then to become the Fox & Pheasant in about 1965. It was licensed as simply a beer house until as late as 1953. Now it offers three real ales which change from time to time; a small range of keg and bottled beers and ciders; and a well-selected wine list and the inevitable cocktails. Whilst the pub still firmly caters for drinkers, for those who wish to eat the pub’s dining experience claims to champion British produce and to be founded on seasonal, sustainable and locally sourced ingredients, all under the care of a Gordon Ramsay-trained head chef. Whilst the kitchen has a break in the late afternoon (except on Sundays), bar snacks are available all day and include classics such as scotch eggs and sausage rolls, alongside more original dishes like buttermilk fried rabbit or sticky pork tacos. Note that the pub is in a gated private road which contrives with the double-yellow lines on the adjacent public highway to make parking nearby very difficult. If you choose to get here via West Brompton station, there is an interesting "rural route" south through the Victorian cemetery (which closes an hour or so before dusk).

Chelsea Pensioner

358 Fulham Road, Chelsea SW10 9UU

Evening Meals

Disabled Access

Keg beers, no real ale. Pool table in back room and a karaoke room is available for hire. There is a free match day membership for Chelsea FC if registered and the pub is known now as "The World's Number 1 Chelsea Fan Pub". 5pm to 9pm "Happy Hour" Tuesday to Friday. The food offering is basic pub grub plus Pieminister pies; the pub claims to be the no. 1 seller of the latter!

Rileys

433 Kings Road, Chelsea SW10 0LR

Sports TV

Close to Railway Station

Close to Bus Routes

CLOSED: possibly for works referenced in planning permission granted July 2018: "Replacement of shopfront; removal of single-storey toilet block on Ann Lane's elevation to form seasonal retractable cover with canvas roof and sides to courtyard seating area; replacement of A/C condenser units on roof behind parapet wall; replacement of kitchen ducting at rear with new flue and ducting up side/rear elevation to extract above parapet level" It was first licensed in 1858 as the Riley Arms, and in 1877 had the address 411 Kings Road, and still by 1921; this was at the corner of Riley Street, hence the name. It was rebuilt in 1952 as part of a general regeneration of the area, possibly not on exactly the same site, and from that time at least it has had the address 433 Kings Road. In 1986 the pub's name was abbreviated to Riley's.

Chelsea Pensioners' Club

Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea SW3 4SR