London - May 12, 2006

Make Me Over

The Marquess Pub Opens

Ms. Sweeney does it with houses. Mr. Titchmarsh prefers gardens. Trintrin and Suz do wardrobes. As for the rest of us, we just sit back and wonder how anyone will actually maintain their transformation.

But not in the case of The Marquess — a pub that’s just undergone a makeover worth applauding. What was once the joint from hell (in more ways than one: rumour has it that the cavernous dining room used to be a morgue) has become a veritable beauty, with whitewashed walls, polished wooden tables and plenty of fresh flowers.

Redone by a crack team of chefs from The Ivy and St. John, the pub has replaced its dodgy former clientele and warm beer with a stylish mead-sipping crowd — one of the world’s oldest drinks, mead is heading for a major revival — and a menu of wild rabbit salad and homemade mead-soaked apple pie. Thus proving that one can make a silk purse from a sow’s ear (or, in this case, a very tasty pork belly).

The pub’s overall impression? More chic old-timer than super-glam upstart.

Which means its new good looks might actually last longer than an ad break.

The Marquess, 32 Canonbury Street, N1 (020 7354 2975).

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