Built in 1585, the Grade II listed inn may have been founded by two Spanish brothers—some accounts claim they later fought a fatal duel here, giving rise to its name. Another theory suggests it was named for the Spanish Ambassador to James II. A boundary stone from 1755 remains in the garden, marking the historic border of the Bishop of London’s estate.
The pub is famously associated with the highwayman Dick Turpin, whose father may have been an innkeeper here, and highway robbers often used the surrounding area to ambush travellers on their way to London. During the 1780 Gordon Riots, its landlord is said to have plied the rioters with free drink, delaying them long enough for soldiers to protect nearby Kenwood House.
The Spaniards Inn has inspired generations of writers and artists. It appears in Charles Dickens’s The Pickwick Papers as a Hampstead tea garden destination and is briefly mentioned in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Poets like John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron were known visitors—Keats is even said to have written Ode to a Nightingale in its garden. Painters such as William Hogarth and John Constable also frequented the pub, the latter capturing it in his 1822 painting Road to the Spaniards, Hampstead. 
Interesting fact…
During the 1780 Gordon Riots, the Spaniards Inn may have saved Kenwood House: its landlord distracted rioters by offering free ale, buying time for soldiers to arrive. The tactic worked—many rioters were too drunk to fight when the troops appeared. The legend survives as one of the cleverest “spirited” moments in London history