There was a time when being a celebrity who liked going out to eat eventually led to an investment in a restaurant. Michael Caine was famously a partner in the trendy 1970s eatery, Langans. In the 1990s Bruce Willis,Demi Moore, Sly Stallone, Arnie Schwarzenegger and Whoopi Goldberg were the original investors in Planet Hollywood. And Robert De Niro is famous for putting his money where his mouth is with investments in Nobu and the Tribeca Grill.
For the Brits It's a Pub
In the UK, the newest celebrity accessory seems to be a pub. A handful of well known British theatre, film and television personalities have recently snapped up their local boozers. Of course, a British pub is more than just a place to drink beer; the best of them are either the centers of their communities or, increasingly, the place to go to eat out on pretty ambitious food in a more casual atmosphere than a fine restaurant. The invention of the gastropub may be why the likes of celebrity chefs Jean Christophe Novelli and Heston Blumenthal have opened pubs.
On the chance that you might spot a celebrity pulling a pint or bending an elbow at a local pub (it does happen), here's a list of who owns what around the UK.
Celebrity Pub Owners
- Piers Morgan Before achieving American fame as winner of Celebrity Apprentice, as a judge on America's Got Talent and, ultimately stepping into Larry King's slot on CNN with Piers Morgan Tonight, Morgan was a colorful and occasionally notorious broadcast interviewer and tabloid editor in the UK. In 2010 he bought The Hansom Cab in Kensington. It's a Grade-II listed building dating from the 1820s and is a traditional Victorian boozer on the Earl's Court Road. In 2011, the pub was relaunched by Morgan and his partner, celebrity chef Marco Pierre White, with a rib room and an oyster bar.
- Guy Ritchie Film director Guy Richie (Lock,Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) bought The Punch Bowl on Farm Street in Mayfair when he was better known as Mr. Madonna. Dating from 1750, it is the second oldest pub in Mayfair (the oldest is The Coach and Horses, around the corner)and serves gastropub style British food. You might do a bit of celebrity spotting while you're there but leave your camera at home as photography is not allowed in this swanky boozer.
- Sir Michael Parkinson was one of the first chat show hosts in Britain. Now retired from chat shows, he remains a well-loved personality to British audiences and a popular presenter. At the height of his popularity, appearing on "Parkinson" was the signal a British performer had arrived in the mainstream. He didn't always fare as well with American stars. When Steve Martin, in his UK debut, cut Parkinson's tie off the host was famously not amused. And, in what he described as his "most difficult TV moment," Parky presided over an infamously excruciating interview with Meg Ryan. The success of his pub venture is less controversial. The Royal Oak in Maidenhead, Berkshire, opened in 2001 with Parkinson's chef son Nicholas at the helm. It has a Michelin star and 3 AA Rosettes as well as oak beams, a snug and an open fireplace.
- Sir Ian McKellen Sir Ian was well known to Shakespearean audiences before he became a household name as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings. His pub, The Grapes, on Narrow Street in Limehouse, part of London's East End, was built in 1720 on a site that had been a pub from 1583. Charles Dickens apparently stood on a table and sang there as a young boy. Later he used it as the inspiration for The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters in Our Mutual Friend in 1864. Sir Ian's pub overlooking the Thames has a fish restaurant and serves traditional ales.
- Ant and Dec Ant and Dec are a popular pair of UK TV presenters. They first came to the publics attention in the late 1980s in a Newcastle-based soap for tweenies, Byker Grove. Since then they have been the presenters of The X-Factor, Britain's Got Talent, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and several other light entertainment programmes. If you were quick, you may have seen their short-lived US comedy quiz show, Wanna Bet?, which lasted seven episodes in 2007. The two look and sound very similar and it is a common joke in Britain that most people don't know which one is Ant (Anthony McPartlin) and which is Dec (Declan Donnelly). Ant and Dec were pioneers in using their native Geordie accent for mainstream light entertainment in prime time. Geordies have a distinctive way of speaking that can even be difficult for some Brits to understand. You might spot them in their local, The Lodge in Newcastle. Once known as Johnny Ringo's, there's nothing traditional or "ye olde Englisshe" about the place. It's ultra modern, with DJs and live music as well as cocktails.
