Tucked in a leafy Kensington square, the Scarsdale takes its name from an old aristocratic title and the manor that shaped these streets
The Scarsdale Tavern holds seventeen hundred and ninety-one reviews and a 4.5 – a strong score on a large sample – and it is a genuine hidden gem, tucked away in one of Kensington’s leafiest and most beautiful corners, named after an old aristocratic title connected to the land it stands on.
The hidden square
The Scarsdale sits near Edwardes Square, one of the loveliest and most secluded garden squares in Kensington – a quiet, green, elegant enclave hidden away from the bustle of the main roads. This is exactly the kind of location this survey has consistently found produces the best neighbourhood pubs: tucked away, residential, known to locals, away from the passing tourist trade.
A pub in a hidden leafy square is almost always a good pub, because it survives on the loyalty of the neighbourhood rather than the accident of foot traffic. It has to be good, and known, and loved, or it would not survive at all in its secluded spot. The Scarsdale’s strong score across a large sample bears this out – a well-loved local in a beautiful, hidden setting.
The Scarsdale name
“Scarsdale” comes from the title Baron Scarsdale (or the Earls/Viscounts associated with the name) – an aristocratic title held by the Curzon family, among others. The Curzons were a great landowning family, and their most famous member was George Nathaniel Curzon, Lord Curzon, the Viceroy of India at the turn of the twentieth century – one of the grandest and most self-consciously magnificent figures of the British Empire, about whom the famous rhyme was written: “My name is George Nathaniel Curzon, I am a most superior person.”
The Scarsdale title and the Curzon family had landholding connections in this part of Kensington, and the pub, like so many in this survey, takes its name from the aristocratic title associated with the local land. “Scarsdale” itself is a place name of northern English origin, from Derbyshire – a “dale” (valley) associated with the name Scars, ultimately from Old Norse elements, reflecting the Viking settlement of northern England. So the name travels from a Derbyshire valley, through an aristocratic title, to a Kensington pub.
The manor and the streets
This corner of Kensington was shaped, like Belgravia and Chelsea, by the great landowning families and the development of their estates. The names of the streets and squares – and the pubs – record these landholdings and titles, a map of aristocratic property written across the neighbourhood. The Scarsdale is one thread in this web: a pub named for a title, connected to a family, attached to the land, in the way this survey has traced again and again.
The pub
A genuinely well-loved Kensington pub doing a strong 4.5 across a large and real sample, in one of the prettiest and most secluded settings in the area – exactly the kind of hidden neighbourhood gem this survey most admires.
Verdict
A hidden gem, strongly rated, beautifully placed in a leafy square, and named after an aristocratic title and the manor that shaped these Kensington streets.
Find it in its secluded corner, have a pint, and enjoy one of the loveliest hidden pubs in Kensington – named, at the last, for a “most superior person” and a Derbyshire dale.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
The accuracy of the dialogue suggests either obsessive transcription or trauma-based recall so perfect it’s almost forensic.