- TitleNew direction for Hitchcock [North by Northwest] pub!
- Author
- MaterialArticle
- NotesIslington Tribune filed at A-Z periodicals (Islington Local History Centre)
Alfred Hitchcock was partial to a drink – his favourite tipple was a White Lady gin and Cointreau cocktail – so he would no doubt be thrilled that an entire pub has been turned into a shrine to his life’s work.
The North Pole, in New North Road, has been rechristened North by Northwest by its new owners after the film director’s famous Cary Grant spy thriller and is now open for business.
The pub has been taken over by the owners of the Alma Pub in Newington Green, which reopened as a movie-themed pub in October 2014.
Hitchcock landed his first industry job in motion pictures at the nearby Gainsborough Studios in the 1920s where he went on to shoot his first suspense thriller, The Lodger, as well as his 1938 masterpiece The Lady Vanishes.
The famous Poole Street studios, previously a power station, an avant-garde theatre and whisky store, were transformed into luxury flats and workspace in 2004 while the neighbouring Shoreditch park is home to a giant sculpture of Hitchcock’s head.
North by Northwest manager Wesley Deaton and his team have spent months decorating the pub with memorabilia and plastering the walls with Hitchcock film posters and dramatic photographs of the man himself. Models of jet-black crows are perched above the bar, and the North by Northwest crop duster hangs from the ceiling.
Mr Deaton said: “We’re going to serve the best Sunday roast in town, we’ve got a pub quiz coming and loads of great local beers. We’re beside Gainsborough studios, which is where Hitchcock started from, so that’s where we got the idea. We’re hoping to get the Hitchcock tours in London to visit us.”
- Keywords
- Geographical keyword
- Persons keyword


