Obituary: Johnny Andrews (1942-2024)

Johnny Andrews, who died at the age of 81 in August this year, was an accounts clerk who became a long-running manager of the Kings Arms pub on Great Titchfield Street in Fitzrovia.

Andrews retired as manager in July 2019 having held the position since 1970. On his retirement he told friends that he was disappointed not to make 50 years but was later relieved as he didn’t have to deal with the fallout from the pandemic lockdowns in 2020.

Andrews grew up in Hoxton, one of eight children: six brothers and two sisters. He called himself “the runt of the litter” but he outlived them all.

After leaving school he trained and worked as an accounts clerk in London. But after four years he had a change of plans and moved to the Island of Jersey, where he did various jobs, before working in the sales department of a Channel Islands broadcaster, a role “he loved”.

When his father became ill he returned to London. Once settled back in the East End, he managed a sweet shop in Hackney and kept in regular contact with his family.

He often said that he was lucky in life. One day, by chance, someone came into the sweet shop and mentioned that the Gunmaker’s Arms pub was in need of a landlord. The small pub in Clerkenwell had seen better days but Andrews thought that he could turn it around, and he was taken on by the brewery. He remained there for nearly four years.

When a friend told him that the Kings Arms in Fitzrovia was in need of a manager, he was initially reluctant to take it on as it was in such a bad state. But he rose to the challenge. In those days, pubs were usually only given to couples, and Andrews was young and single. But the brewery saw how he had improved the Gunmaker’s and felt they had nothing to lose and put him in charge — becoming possibly the first single (and the youngest) landlord in the West End.

Shortly after starting with his new venture he was joined by his mother Lilian who had left his father. So began a long mother and son partnership and together they turned the pub into a warm and welcoming place.

Andrews’ life revolved around the pub. It was where he met friends and many celebrities from stage and screen. Across the road in Wells Street, was the ITN News building and the Kings Arms became a regular social scene for its production staff and journalists. He also welcomed the Long Yang Club for their regular gathering on Saturday evenings. This was a social group for gay Asian men and women, who were far from home. Andrews gave them a safe space where they could meet, socialise, and perhaps find partners, at a time when society was not very accepting of gay pubs and clubs. Local clergy were also regulars at the Arms.

Many charity events took place at the Kings Arms, including fundraising for the children’s hospital at Great Ormond Street.

After he became chairman of the Licensed Victuallers Association, Andrews would travel all over the country to give advise to pub managers. Always popular he was once voted Trade Personality of the Year.

He was made a Freeman of the City of London on 28 June 1993, a significant honour for which he was immensely proud.

After forty-nine years at the Kings Arms he spent his retirement at home in his flat in Collingwood House on New Cavendish Street, where he welcomed family, friends and his many grandchildren.

His funeral and requiem mass was held on 16 September at All Saints’ Margaret Street.

Johnny Andrews, publican. Born 16 November 1942, died 26 August 2024. This obituary is based on a eulogy given by Father Pip Bevan at the funeral.

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