London's rudest landlord, Norman Balon, gets West End play about running Soho's Coach and Horses
An infamous publican who earned himself the title of London's rudest landlord has a play written about his life coming to the West End.
Norman Balon ran The Coach and Horses on Soho's Greek Street where he worked from the age of 16 in 1943 before retiring in 2006.
Speaking to ITV News Mr Balon said when he first arrived the pub was riddled with mice and hardly doing any business.
"My father had just got the licence for this pub. I was in a woodworking class at school and I was no good at it," Norman said.
"Then I came here and it [The Coach and Horses] was doing no business, the first week we were here we took £100.
"The first day I came in here there were a lot of mice in the pub, 140 mice were caught in the first night!" he explained.
The performance called It’s All True will run for one night in January at Soho's Shaftesbury Theatre just round the corner from The Coach and Horses.
The play was written by the man who replaced Balon when he retired, the now former landlord Alastair Choat, who wanted the performance to also be seen as a 'love letter' to old Soho.
"The man that’s making the play is an idiot! He is going to lose his money!" joked Mr Balon.
"I don’t have delusions of grandeur. I ran a pub in a seedy corner of Soho that was a bank manager’s day out.
"Some people say Soho has changed for the better. But I liked it a bit sleazy. We saw lots of people come and go - that’s life!" he added.
Norman said despite earning the title of rudest landlord during his time in Soho he didn't care what people thought about him.
He said he did his "own thing" and people "had to abide by my rules", adding: "Enough people liked me to fill the pub up.
We had a fantastic chef in those days, served fantastic lunches but she never came on time to work!
We were supposed to serve lunches at midday, but she didn’t come to work until midday but she was a good chef."
Among Norman's famous customers were writer Jeffrey Bernard and artist Francis Bacon.
The pub was also favourite drinking venue for the journalists of the satirical magazine Private Eye
A pub has stood on the site since the 18th century and the current building is Grade II listed.
It's all True is being performed at The Shaftesbury Theatre on Sunday 15th January 2023 at 7:30pm
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