The Churchill Arms is a traditional English pub on Churchill Street, with little more than some ornate flower arrangements and a barely visible sign to declare its presence. When you enter, you’re greeted by several friendly waitresses and… a Thai menu. In the back of the pub is one of the most fantastic Thai restaurants you will ever visit. Each meal is only 7.5 pounds, a relative steal in south Kensington, and you get as yelp puts it, an “American-sized” portion. As an individual entirely uninitiated on the delights of Thai food, when I received my meal and took my first taste, I immediately discovered a new nationality of food to make a habit. However the biggest shock of the experience came a few minutes into the meal. As I ate my meal I looked up and noticed one of the blue signs mentioned on our bus tour as government issued historical declarations. To my surprise, the sign indicated that Winston Churchill, one of the most influential Englishmen in history, had given his wartime speeches to the nation in the very room I was eating from 40-45. This combination of fantastic history, and frankly, the general oddity of the establishment made this a place I simply must write about.
As I began to think about what experiences of the first week I wanted to write about, I was determined not to write about a pub, until I visited the Churchill Arms. The oddity of a fantastic Thai restaurant sitting in the back of a seemingly traditional English pub just hit me as a perfect example of the great diverse nature of the people in London. All of this was then followed up by a realization of the historical significance of the room in which I was sitting. I am humbled by the influence that Sir Winston Churchill had on not only England, but history as a whole. To have a casual lunch in the room in which he gave some of the nation’s most serious and grave speeches was just an example to me of the amount of history sitting in every corner of London.
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