The Wheatsheaf, Fitzrovia

Its customers included George Orwell, Dylan Thomas, Edwin Muir and Humphrey Jennings, who were known for a while as the Wheatsheaf writers [1] Other habitués included the singer and dancer Betty May, and the writer and surrealist poet Philip O'Connor, Nina Hamnett, Julian Maclaren-Ross, Anthony Carson and Quentin Crisp.

[2] In spring 1936, the poet Dylan Thomas met Caitlin Macnamara (1913–1994), a 22-year-old blonde-haired, blue-eyed dancer of Irish descent.

She had run away from home, intent on making a career in dance, and aged 18 joined the chorus line at the London Palladium.

[3][4] Introduced by the artist Augustus John, Caitlin's lover, they met in The Wheatsheaf.

[8] Although Caitlin initially continued her relationship with John, she and Thomas began a correspondence, and in the second half of 1936 were courting.