Norman Balon

THE “rudest landlord in London” who worked in the Coach and Horses pub for 63 years has died, aged 99.

Norman Balon died “as he wanted in his sleep” and is “finally in his box”, a post from the pub said on Friday.

“You’re barred, you bastards” was his best known catchphrase, and the title of his memoirs, and he was “can’t stand bores”.

He hosted Private Eye’s lunches every other Wednesday for more than 40 years and was immortalised in the Keith Waterhouse play, Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, when the eponymous writer and regular of the Coach and Horses finds himself locked in overnight.

Mr Balon eventually sold up in 2006, after announcing his retirement in the Extra in October 2005.

At the time, he said: “I don’t think a chain would want to buy my pub, I think it is more likely to be an individual. It’s with great regret that I am leaving.”

The pub was taken over by a new publican, Alastair Choat, who gave the venue a new identity, as the first vegetarian pub in the capital.

But in 2019 Mr Balon, then aged 92, threw his support behind a campaign to save the pub from a management takeover.

The pub was famous for being full of drinkers from all walks of life, from shoplifters to cabinet ministers, as well as being popular with writers.

In 2019 Mr Balon told Extra: “They all came in and I treated none of them any different, and it gave me great insight into life.

“I remember getting divorced. I was terribly upset and a customer grabbed hold of me like this [on the collar] and lifted me up the air – he was very strong – he said ‘Norman, yesterday’s dead, live for today and look forward to tomorrow’. That cheered me up. I thought the man was a bastard. But he was right.”

Reflecting on the changes in Soho, he said: “Soho used to be synonymous with naughtiness. Soho should be a mixture of all sorts of people. The whole culture has changed.”

He added: “Also I quite firmly believe that when the one-way system was introduced it sounded the death knell of Soho as I knew it. If you look about you, except for the cafés in Old Compton Street, who have benefited enormously from being able to put tables and chairs everywhere, everywhere else has gone down.”

Mr Balon also bemoaned the reduction in the numbers of immigrant workers coming to Soho to find work, adding: “It seems to me the immigrant population are no longer coming to Soho like they used to, the Italians, the French and others.”

Mr Balon, who lived in Golders Green, first arrived at the pub on February 1 1943, aged 16 years and one month.

He began by helping his parents Jack and Annie run the business. It was the only job he had in his life.

In an essay in 2005 about old age, in the book The Time of Your Life, Mr Balon described what made a good pub: “Me.”

He added: “A pub is a reflection of a landlord’s personality.

“I believe that by and large you should have people in there that you could talk to at home. So I can’t stand bores.

“I can’t stand people who annoy me.”

An online post from The Coach and Horses said: “It is with great sadness that we inform you that after 99 years time has finally been called for Norman Balon. Norman died as he wanted to, in his sleep, on Thursday (4th June) morning. He is finally ‘in his box’ and is mourned by his wife, Grazia; his daughters, Lisa and Natasha; his stepdaughter, Julia; his sister, Doreen; and all who knew him.”

A wake was held for him at the pub in Greek Street on Tuesday following a funeral at Golders Green Crematorium.

Mr Balon had asked for donations at his funeral to go to St Patrick’s Homeless Open House in Soho Square.