Dach & Sons, Hampstead, NW3

This place was the only traditional pub left on the east side of Heath Street and it was generally populated by an older clientele. I didn’t venture in very much but my lasting memory will always be the huge fish that swam around a tank on the bar. It wasn’t the most exciting of places and whenever I visited it was never very busy. I do remember there being a function room with a bar upstairs which was used for a monthly disco that I attended a couple of times, but this was short lived. I think that the Horse and Groom (or Doom and Gloom as the younger set used to call it) was the first pub to close on this stretch of Heath Street. Since its closure in 2006 six other pubs and bars have fallen on their swords (Heath Street, Gertie Browns, Toast, Mojama, Tabby Cat Lounge and Calamities) leaving no more drinking establishments on this cursed section of road East of Hampstead High Street. After its closure it became a restaurant called China Dream which was always empty when I went past. Obviously it soon closed down and a trendy Hampstead bar called Room 68 suddenly appeared in its place. This bar ended up at loggerheads with the local residents due to the noise and a request to by the Bar for extended opening hours until 1am on Friday and Saturday and midnight during the week was greeted with uproar and was turned down by the council. This bar closed soon after this and the building is now a French restaurant called J’aime. The large ‘HORSE AND GROOM’ lettering can still be found high up on the wall, but all other traces of the pub have gone.