The Londoner: Guy Ritchie buys Fitzrovia boozer

Guy Ritchie will be pulling pints at a Fitzrovia local.

The director of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is returning to the hospitality industry by opening a new pub.

We can reveal that Ritchie is taking over The Lukin on Conway Street, which closed down earlier this year and is being refurbished by its owners Mitchells & Butler.

It will reopen under the name The Lore of the Land shortly. “The Lukin was one of the more characterful pubs in the area so we were worried that a refurb would make it a bit soulless”, a Fitzrovia resident says.

“But the whispers about the new landlord means that we could be drinking next to the Beckhams, which is enough for us.” Companies House records show that Ritchie, pictured with wife Jacqui Ritchie, has set up Fatboy Pub Company Ltd, a private limited company categorised under “public houses and bars” earlier this year.

The creation of the company marks just the latest step in the director’s new brewing journey.

He has already launched his own micro-brewery, called Gritchie, in a converted barn on his own farm at Ashcombe House on the Dorset/Wiltshire border.

Ritchie’s first brew was called English Lore, and he owns a property on the nearby Fitzroy Square .

Ritchie has form when it comes to bartending. He owned The Punch Bowl in Mayfair, frequented by his famous friends including David Beckham, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Jude Law and even the Duke of Cambridge.

He bought it with his then-wife Madonna, but took full ownership when they divorced in 2008.

In the same year it was investigated for allegedly charging regulars and tourists different prices, and also repeatedly received noise complaints.

The Punch Bowl was famous for offering two portions of fish and chips and half a bottle of champagne for £75.

Bubbly - but a dead loss on the doorstep

Sir Peter Tapsell, Conservative MP and former Father of the House, died over the weekend and MPs shared memories. “If he asked you to have a drink, it was always Veuve Clicquot,” said Nadine Dorries. “The only man who could call me ‘girlie’ and get away with it.” Greg Hands remembers being Tapsell’s whip and trying to get him to campaign for Boris Johnson’s mayoral bid in 2012. “He wouldn’t communicate by phone or email, only fax or letter. His very polite letter back told me he would be no use canvassing ‘as everyone I know in London is dead’.”

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Sometimes art is pain. British sculptor Anish Kapoor has an exhibition at the Serralves Museum in Portugal, featuring a piece that is a 2.5 metre hole in the ground entitled Descent into Limbo. Unfortunately, a visitor fell into it last week. “The visitor is OK, almost ready to return home,” says a museum spokesperson.

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Michael Crick, Channel 4’s political correspondent, has found the hot topic of the day. “I prefer baths, as most showers are designed by idiots, and very hard to use. Am I alone in my experience?” he asked his followers on Twitter. Competitor and fellow broadcaster Andrew Marr chipped in: “Yes, by and large, Michael, you are.”

Strictly come barking – it’s a dogs day out in the West End

Dog-friendly screenings at Picturehouse Central are a howl. Yesterday model Victoria Brown brought her Chihuahua to Alpha, a new film about a boy who forms a lasting friendship with a wolf. Katya Jones, the dancer who bravely paired with Ed Balls on Strictly, attended with her fluffy Shih Tzu, Miss Crumble Jones. Jones is still good friends with Balls and his MP wife, Yvette Cooper. The former shadow Chancellor recently returned to screens to present BBC2’s Travels in Trumpland, a documentary on modern America that saw Balls, among other things, Tasered, wear a leotard during a wrestling match and spend the night in a high-security prison. Also at the cinema was Strictly dancer and former Crimewatch presenter Rav Wilding, joined by his Yorkie, Lola.

SW1A

Corbynista trolls continue to harass Emily Benn, granddaughter of the late Tony Benn. After one told her yesterday: “Your father would turn in his grave at the way you attack a socialist Labour,” she replied: “I just had breakfast with my father, and can confirm there was no turning, but there was very much eating of bread and croissants.”

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Ed Miliband says he fares better with Middle Eastern food. “I ate a falafel earlier, which went OK compared to the bacon sandwich,” he told his podcast, Reasons to be Cheerful. “It had all the goop on top as well so it was pretty treacherous.” Well done, Ed.

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Is Chris Williamson seeing how far he can push his luck? Last night the Labour MP for Derby North tweeted: “Great to meet Vanessa Beeley today.” Beeley believes al Qaeda were not behind 9/11 and that “Zionists rule France”.

Quote of the day

" I had a job drilling holes for water - it was well boring." Comedian Leo Kearse, who has come second in a poll of the best jokes at Edinburgh

Miriam's jerk reaction

Miriam González Durántez, lawyer and wife of Nick Clegg, is puzzled by Dawn Butler MP’s assertion that Jamie Oliver’s jerk chicken is “cultural appropriation”: “Imagine if we were to accuse every non-Spaniard who cooks paella wrongly of ‘cultural appropriation’,” she says. “One would’ve thought Labour ministers had more important priorities.” Meanwhile, jerk chicken remains the most popular choice in the House of Commons canteen. Earlier this year the top-secret recipe was left on a photocopier and leaked to the press. The chef who created it? Sean McNellis, now retired and back home with his family in Ireland.