The luck of the Irish began not with shamrocks but in tunnels beneath the Nevada Desert in 1873. John Mackay, a Dublin-born miner, after two decades searching for gold struck what became known as the Big Bonanza – one of the largest silver discoveries in history. Overnight the penniless Irish immigrant became one of the wealthiest men in the world.
My own Big Bonanza came not with the discovery of a silver mine, but by stumbling through the door of Lucky 7, an Irish pub in Cricklewood, north-west London.
Fluid pricing
Lucky 7 is the final destination on what is known as the Irish isosceles – the legendary north-west London pub crawl that begins at Angie’s in Willesden Green, moves on to the Sir Colin Campbell on Kilburn High Road, and ends, inevitably, here.
Prices, like everything upon entering the Lucky 7, are hazy. A pint of Guinness costs somewhere in the region of £4.40, though this may vary.
The feels of Athenry
So many Irish pubs in London strive too hard for authenticity; Lucky 7 might be too much of the real deal for some. On the wall hangs a bodhrán painted with the faces of Republican hunger strikers. Punters have been overheard conversing in Irish, and for several weeks, a sticker on the front door read “Ireland is full” (the irony lost, it seems, on everyone inside).
There are rumours that the place might soon fall victim to redevelopment, that one of the last little shreds of Irish heritage in this corner of London will go the way of Cricklewood’s iconic Galtymore Dance Hall, which closed in 2008. Until then, my luck hasn’t quite run out.
Lucky 7 Irish Pub, Queensway Court, London NW2
[Further reading: The Everyman: cinemas make bad restaurants]
