Churchill Arms – well lit for Christmas

The Churchill Arms in London’s Kensington district really believes in celebrating Christmas. For this year’s festivities, it put up a mere 57 Christmas trees accompanied by a trifling 11,500 lights.
19 December 2013

The Churchill Arms in its full Christmas glory. Could this pub be seen from space?
The Manager of the Fuller’s pub Clareman Gerry O’Brien has been running the pub for 28 years now and has managed to up the Christmas tree lights ante each year.
“We always put a Christmas tree in the main doorway of six to 18 feet,” he explains, “so we decided some time ago to put some more trees along the front of the pub.”
The Churchill Arms had 50 trees last year “…. And then we found a few small ones of six feet, eight feet and 10 feet. We even have them on the chimney tops this year with over 200 lights on each tree”.
The display seems to work in attracting business.
“People don’t just take a photo and move on” says Gerry, “they come in. Others have noted the place and tell other people and they’ll eventually come back for a drink.”
This year coach tours have been stopping at the pub to get a picture.
“Nobody passes through without stopping to admire them,” he says.
It’s the same during the Summer when the pub is wreathed in flowers. It won ‘London in Bloom’ this year for the third time and once won First Prize at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The pub on Kensington’s main street is always trying to do something different, adds Gerry, who hails from Ogonnelloe in County Clare by the shores of Lough Derg originally but who’ll have been at the Churchill Arms 30 years next June and who’ll have been in London 46 years altogether now without the slightest loss of that Clare twang.
“We’re bringing the Clare hurling team over here on 17th January for a huge Clare night,” he tells us.
To date, business has been “a small bit ahead of last year’s record take” according to Gerry, who adds, “At this time of year I can’t wait for it to get dark at four o’clock!”.
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