Confused chairmen

Reading the story at reference 1, I was pleased to see that the then Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng (Eton, but not Oxford), managed to find time at the height of his crisis to visit the Two Chairmen in Westminster, taking some of his staff with him. A house that I used to use occasionally, starting in the days when, as I recall, it was a rather sleepy place, a Courage house, run by two older ladies whom might have been sisters. Ideal place for a quiet smoke and a pint of an afternoon.

But when I look it up in gmaps, I find that it is in Dartmouth Street, at the south eastern corner of St.James's Park, while I was thinking of a place off Trafalgar Square, now absorbed into the large Thai restaurant next door, rather nearer the north eastern corner of St. James's Park.

Possibly still open, but only if seen from the right angle. Seen from other angles, in particular from Cockspur Street, is had indeed closed up. Still recognisable, but very firmly closed down as far as being a public house is concerned. Presumably one of the quirks resulting from old Street View images hitting new Street View images. Presumably the camera van does not get down the passage very often.

I think that the Chancellor took in the first place, while I took in the second. But odd to have two houses of the same name so close together: which must have confused plenty of both taxi drivers and punters over the years. Clearly I need to pop into town to inspect the facts on the ground.

PS: Courage have not had any public houses for years, although I believe that one can, occasionally, still find their beer. All part of the Tory makeover of the brewing industry, the makeover that killed off most of the tenanted & tied public houses of old. A lot of which were, to be fair, probably moribund anyway. Times were changing.

References

Reference 1: The inside story of Liz Truss’s disastrous 44 days in office: How a historic budget came together and fell apart, told by those who were there - George Parker, Sebastian Payne, Laura Hughes, Financial Times - 2022.