8 Dorset Street
Marylebone
London
W1U 6QW
020 7487 4773
As the impressive large corner inn sign states, the Barley Mow is the oldest pub in Marylebone, dating back to the 1790s (photo 3). The four storey building had a Victorian ground floor frontage added in the 1890s (photos 1 & 2).
Like most central London pubs it attracts workers from nearby offices at lunchtimes and early evenings but like the Golden Eagle, reverts to a proper Marylebone local afternoons and late evenings. Food, with a focus on pies, is served weekday lunchtimes, and up to six real ales are sold.
The Grade II Listed pub is on Camra’s list of nationally important historic pub interiors and is best known for the two curious wooden drinking boxes attached to the bar. They date from Victorian times and were designed to separate select customers from the rest of the clientele. Anybody can use them these days but you do need to get there early to grab one.
The name Barley Mow is unlikely to refer to the harvesting farm workers shown on the inn sign but was more likely a simple indication that the premises sold beer (photo 3).
