Roy Stewart: The Bond Actor Who Owned Notting Hill's Coolest Club

From Stunt Work to Screen Stardom

Atwell Roy Stewart arrived in Britain from Jamaica in 1948 with ambitions to study medicine, but early exposure to theatre and a television commercial for Fry's Turkish Delight (where he played a snake charmer) pulled him into performance work instead. By 1959, Stewart was working as a stuntman and extra in British films. His first credited role was as a slave in Hammer's horror film The Mummy (1959), launching a career that would span more than two decades and establish him as one of the leading Black actors and stuntmen working in Britain.

A Career Across British Film and Television

Through the 1960s and 1970s, Stewart became a familiar face in British genre cinema and television. His filmography reveals the breadth of his work:

Hammer Horror and Genre Films: After The Mummy, Stewart appeared in The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964), She (1965), Prehistoric Women (1967), and Twins of Evil (1971), becoming a regular presence in Hammer's adventure and horror output.

Mainstream British Cinema: He worked across genres, appearing in Carry On Up the Jungle (1970), Leo the Last (1970), Games That Lovers Play (1971), Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), Stand Up, Virgin Soldiers (1977), and Arabian Adventure (1979). These weren't always leading roles, but they were steady work in an industry where Black actors faced severe limitations.

James Bond: His most recognisable role came in 1973 when he played Quarrel Junior in Live and Let Die, Roger Moore's first outing as Bond. The production took Stewart back to Jamaica for the first time in decades—he reportedly struggled with the heat and was struck by how much the island had changed since his departure in 1948. For Bond fans, Stewart's performance as the loyal boat captain remains a memorable part of the film's Caribbean setting.

Television Work: Stewart appeared multiple times on British television, often cast in physically imposing roles that drew on his stunt background and athletic build. Doctor Who fans know him best for two appearances: as Toberman in The Tomb of the Cybermen (1967)—now the earliest complete surviving Second Doctor story and the only fully intact 1960s Cyberman serial—and as Tony the strongman in Terror of the Autons (1971).

His television credits also include The Avengers, The Saint, Out of the Unknown, Adam Adamant Lives!, Doomwatch, Up Pompeii!, The Troubleshooters, Space: 1999, and a small role as a senator in the acclaimed BBC drama I, Claudius. One of his final screen roles was Pomeroy in the television film Dangerous Davies: The Last Detective (1981), effectively marking the end of his on-screen career.

The Double Life: Actor and Community Builder

What makes Roy Stewart's story remarkable is not just his screen work, but what he was building simultaneously in North Kensington. In 1954, whilst establishing himself as a stuntman and actor, Stewart opened a gymnasium in the basement of 32a Powis Square. The gym operated an explicitly multiracial policy at a time when many London gyms and sports clubs refused entry to Black people. Anyone could train there, regardless of race.

The gym became known in weightlifting circles across London. Among its members was David Prowse, who trained there during his competitive weightlifting years before achieving global fame as the physical performer of Darth Vader in Star Wars. But the basement space also functioned as an unofficial after-hours drinking club—a dual purpose that brought Stewart into repeated conflict with licensing authorities.

By 1964, Stewart had been convicted four times for selling liquor without a licence. The prosecutions reveal something important about how Caribbean spaces operated in 1960s Notting Hill. Formal licensing was difficult to obtain for Black entrepreneurs; police surveillance was constant; and yet these informal venues provided essential social infrastructure for a community that faced exclusion from mainstream institutions.

The Globe: Notting Hill's Longest-Running Club

In the 1960s, Stewart opened The Globe, a Caribbean restaurant and bar at 103 Talbot Road. The venue had previously operated as Bajy's, but under Stewart's stewardship it became legendary. The Globe welcomed musicians, artists, and night owls from across London's diverse scenes. Van Morrison and Bob Marley were said to have been among its patrons. Jimi Hendrix's appearance the night before his death in September 1970 passed into Notting Hill folklore.

Like the Powis Square gym, The Globe operated on open-door, mixed-race principles during a period marked by racist housing policies, police tension, and the lingering violence of the 1958 race riots. These were not merely commercial ventures. They were acts of cultural resistance, creating spaces where Caribbean migrants and their allies could gather safely in a neighbourhood that often felt hostile.

Stewart ran The Globe for over 40 years until his death in 2008. The venue has continued operating, making it one of London's longest-running nightspots and a living link between present-day Notting Hill and the Caribbean cultural scene of the 1960s.

Why Roy Stewart Matters

Roy Stewart's screen career represents an important chapter in Black British film history. Working through the 1960s and 70s—decades when Black actors faced severe typecasting and limited opportunities—Stewart built a consistent presence across British cinema and television. From Hammer Horror to James Bond, from Doctor Who to period dramas, he navigated an industry that offered few substantial roles to Black performers whilst maintaining a steady career for over two decades.

But Stewart's significance extends beyond his filmography. He lived a double life that most film fans never knew about: whilst working on British sound stages, he was simultaneously building the social infrastructure that allowed Caribbean community life to flourish in Notting Hill.

The gym in Powis Square and The Globe on Talbot Road were not side projects—they were acts of cultural resistance. Stewart created spaces where Caribbean migrants and their allies could gather safely during a period marked by racist housing policies, police tension, and the lingering violence of the 1958 race riots. These venues operated under constant surveillance, navigating licensing restrictions designed to exclude Black entrepreneurs, yet they nurtured London's fitness, music, and nightlife cultures for more than half a century.

Stewart lived with heart disease in his later years and died in London on 27 October 2008, aged 83. Obituaries noted both his distinctive screen presence and his role as a pioneering Black entrepreneur whose venues helped shape West London's cultural landscape for more than half a century.

There is no blue plaque for Roy Stewart at 32a Powis Square. The Globe still stands on Talbot Road, but few passers-by know the history of the man who ran it for decades. His story—like so many stories of Black British cultural pioneers—remains largely untold in mainstream heritage narratives.

Walk This History: The Frontline

Roy Stewart's gymnasium on Powis Square and The Globe on Talbot Road are both key stops on The Frontline: Black Shebeens & Resistance in Notting Hill, launching February 2025.

This walk explores how Black-owned venues like Stewart's gym and The Globe operated under police surveillance and licensing restrictions, whilst simultaneously creating spaces for community gathering, cultural expression, and resistance. We examine the dual reality of these venues—joyful spaces that were also sites of vulnerability, entrepreneurship that existed despite institutional barriers.

The Frontline walk centres community voices and rigorous historical research. We tell the full story of Notting Hill's Caribbean heritage—the pioneers like Roy Stewart who built cultural infrastructure against extraordinary odds, and the conditions they navigated to do so.

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Discover Authentic Caribbean Heritage in Notting Hill

At Notting Hill Walks, we tell the stories guidebooks leave out. Our Caribbean heritage tours are led by guides who centre community voices and rigorous historical research. From the Windrush generation to Notting Hill Carnival, from Roy Stewart's gym to The Globe nightclub—we explore the real history of Black British life in West London.

Related walk: Notting Hill Caribbean Heritage Walk

This post draws on film and television databases, Doctor Who reference archives, local history sources, and community memory. Roy Stewart's full story deserves a book-length biography. If you have memories of Roy Stewart's Gym, The Globe, or Caribbean Notting Hill in the 1950s–1980s, we welcome the opportunity to listen and learn. Email hello@nottinghillwalks.co.uk