Magdala, Hampstead

pub details:

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location:

Hampstead

address:

2a South Hill Park, NW3 2SB

phone:

0871 258 9690*
* calls cost 10p/minute, click here for more about 0871 numbers.

nearest stations:

Hampstead Heath railway station
(70m) - zone 2

Belsize Park London Underground station
(620m) - zone 2

Hampstead London Underground station
(860m) - zones 2/3

Gospel Oak railway station
(970m)

Finchley Road and Frognal railway station
(1.4Km)

bus routes:

24, 46, 168, C11

how to find it:

Hampstead Heath: come out of the station, turn right and immediately right again, almost back on yourself - the pub is just 20 yards up the side road. Belsize Park: come out of the tube, turn right, after about 6 minutes and at a traffic-light crossroads, turn right downhill, when you get to South End Green (about 5 minutes walk), turn left - go past the railway station and then immediately turn right and the pub is 20 yards up the side street.

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Notorious as the place where Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be judicially hanged in England, shot her erstwhile lover dead, the Magdala is a quietly agreeable place nowadays. It succeeds in striking a balance between being a gastropub and a more traditional boozer. The larger, more food-orientated bar (and adjacent small outside seating area) has efficient table service, while a good range of beers, both real ales on hand pumps and a decent range of continental lagers is available both there and in the smaller, more pubby bar. There's also a separate restaurant upstairs. The whole place is very well kept and has friendly staff, with newspaper cuttings displayed about Ellis. The Magdala works well, and its various seating areas make it as good a place to go, depending on the time of day, for a coffee, or a meal, as it is for a beer.

reviewed:
09/03/2010