A Victorian pub on the edge of Hyde Park, with a ghost story in its cellar.
This watercolour captures The Mitre at 24 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, its mid-19th-century facade standing between Paddington and Bayswater, a stone's throw from Hyde Park. Built around 1850 as part of the Tyburnia development funded by the Craven family, the pub is Grade II listed, with original etched glass, mosaic floors, and plasterwork protected by English Heritage since 1975.
The pub takes its name from the mitre, the ceremonial headdress of a bishop, a common pub name across Britain reflecting the historical influence of the church on local communities. The pub is arranged across three floors: a traditional ground-floor bar with real ales and open fireplaces. Lord Craven's Dining Room on the first floor, and Old Mary's a candlelit speakeasy-style bar in the basement, named after the pub's resident ghost. Its all part of a connected story.
Interesting facts...
The pub is said to be haunted by Old Mary, a Jacobean scullery maid who had an affair with the young Lord Craven and was murdered by his wife, Lady Craven. Apparently she plunged a knife into her heart or throat depending on who tells the tale and how much they have drunk.
The story is almost certainly folklore rather than documented history, as the area was only developed in the 1830s and no contemporary record of Mary exists. The pub's basement bar, Old Mary's Wine Cellars, is deliberately themed around this ghost story, with deep plum walls, candlelight, and cheese and charcuterie served on silver platters. Having a ghost brings in the punters apparently.
The pub was listed as Grade II in 1975, with English Heritage specifically noting the original plate glass and plaster features as protected. The pub sits on the site of the former Bayswater Tea Gardens, which closed in 1850 before the terraces were designed and built in 1857.
The Craven family dod actually exist and funded the wider Tyburnia development, which included Belgravia, Bayswater, Paddington, and Lancaster Gate.
Location: 24 Craven Terrace, Lancaster Gate, Bayswater, London W2 3QH
