Haunted place · England, United Kingdom

The Grenadier

Updated November 20263 sources How to visit

A hidden Belgravia mews pub, once an officers' mess, said to be haunted by Cedric, a young officer beaten to death for cheating at cards, mostly in September.

The story

The Grenadier sits tucked away in Belgravia, one of the wealthiest corners of central London, on a quiet mews rather than a through street. Its reputation as the "pub with no street entrance" comes from that setting: you find it by turning off the main roads, not by walking past it.

The building goes back to 1720. Officers of the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, the most senior infantry regiment in the British Army, used it as their mess, and it stood inside a courtyard of their barracks. For nearly a century it served soldiers, not the public.

That changed in 1818, when it opened its doors to paying customers under the name The Guardsman. It was later renamed The Grenadier, a tribute to the part the Grenadier Guards played at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. (The pub's own website tells a different story about the name, tying it to its resident ghost; the Waterloo explanation, given by Wikipedia and its sources, is the historical one.)

Because of its secluded position in a rich district, the pub has long drawn notable customers. Tradition counts King George IV and the Duke of Wellington among its early regulars, and in recent decades Madonna and Prince William have been mentioned among its visitors. The pub has also lent its name to a 4x4 vehicle and a professional cycling team, both called Grenadier after it.

The legend

The Grenadier's ghost goes by the name Cedric. According to the story, he was a young officer (Wikipedia uses the word "subaltern", meaning a junior officer below the rank of captain) who was caught cheating at cards. His fellow soldiers are said to have punished him by beating him so badly that he died.

The pub's own history page places the killing, tentatively, in September, and claims that strange happenings are most frequent in that month. What those happenings are is left vague: neither the pub nor the other sources consulted describe specific witness accounts, named sightings or dated incidents.

The most visible part of the legend is on the ceiling. Visitors stick banknotes to it, and the custom is explained as a way of paying off Cedric's gambling debt so that his spirit can finally rest. The money-covered ceiling is now one of the pub's best-known features.

How old is the story? That is hard to say. The ghost appears in the author Richard Jones's book Walking Haunted London (2007), which has a chapter on the pub and is the reference Wikipedia uses. No earlier dated account was found in the research behind this page.

It is worth being clear about what is missing. No source we consulted cites any historical record of an officer being killed at the mess over a card game: there is no surname, no year and no document. Cedric's story fits a familiar pattern for old London pubs, where a colorful tale and a ritual (here, the money on the ceiling) are passed on by staff and regulars. Treat it as pub folklore rather than documented history. No television investigation of the pub could be confirmed.

What remains today

The Grenadier is still a working pub. The 1720 building still stands on its quiet mews in what was once the barracks area, and it keeps its old military associations in its name. The banknote-covered ceiling, the visible trace of the Cedric legend, is part of any visit.

Visiting

The Grenadier is a normal licensed pub open to the public during its trading hours; no ticket or tour is needed to go in. It is in Belgravia but does not front onto a main road, so allow a few minutes to find the mews.

If you want to add a note to the ceiling, ask the staff first. The pub is also mentioned in Richard Jones's guide to haunted London walks, which can be used to build a self-guided ghost walk around the area; organized ghost tours that stop here could not be verified.

Be considerate of the neighbors and keep noise down when you leave.

The ghosts

Soldier

Cedric

Said to be A young officer (subaltern) of the Foot Guards said to have been caught cheating at cards and beaten to death by his comrades

Cedric is said to have been killed by fellow soldiers after being caught cheating at cards, supposedly in September. Unexplained happenings are said to peak in that month. Visitors pin banknotes to the ceiling to settle his debt so he can rest. No historical record of his death has been cited.

First reported: In print by 2007 (Richard Jones, Walking Haunted London); no earlier date found. Reported by: The Grenadier (pub website); Richard Jones, Walking Haunted London (2007)