Tom Holland’s dad reveals he was forced to spend a night out at his favourite pub ‘shivering’ in the garden after son’s recommendation left it overrun by Spider Man fans

DAILYMAIL.COM • 2h ago

By CHARLOTTE DEAN, ASSOCIATE SHOWBIZ EDITOR 11:01 19 Oct 2026, updated 11:31 19 Oct 2026

Tom Holland’s father Dominic has revealed his favourite pub has been overrun by Spider-Man fans after his famous son recommended the watering hole.

The comedian, 59, recalled how he sat ‘shivering’ in the garden pub because inside was already so packed when he arrived recently for an early evening meal.

Dominic wrote in his Substack blog that while he was pleased about the boozer’s newfound footfall, he isn’t happy that it has come at the expense of his own seat.

During a media interview, Tom praised The Cocoanut in Kingston-Upon-Thames as somewhere he likes to go for dinner when he is in London.

But naturally, Tom’s words have sent an influx of fans to check out the location and Dominic said he had ‘never seen the place so busy’.

Arriving for dinner at the pub, that serves Thai food on a Saturday night, Dominic wrote: ‘Little did we know we would need to eat in the sodding garden because the place was already packed.

‘At 7pm! Getting a table in a restaurant in one of the big markers of success. I have never reached such dizzying heights, but I would always back myself at the Cocoanut. Not now, however, since people are travelling far and wide to dine where their heroes eat.’

Dominic said that his son and his A-lister wife Zendaya are able to eat at the pub without being hassled by fellow punters.

He wrote: ‘I hope that it’s newfound popularity continues, and that its relaxed atmosphere continues. also. Part of it’s charm is that no one bothers them.

Dominic went on to say he is aware of the challenges that publicans face and put the blame at Westminster’s door.

Dominic said: ‘Two pubs close every day in the UK, thanks to our hapless politicians, most of whom have never run a business. Because of taxes and regulations, alcohol is ruinously expensive in pubs and comparatively cheap in supermarkets. Go figure.

‘A crying shame, and why I am excited that Tom’s stardust can help draw local business, though I might draw the line when it means I can’t get in myself.’

Tom first revealed the hidden gem in a joint interview with Matt Damon for the New York Times, where they were asked if they were to show each other around their hometowns, where would they pick to eat.

Tom said: ‘There’s a pub in Kingston called The Cocoanut. It’s a Thai restaurant. You can bring your dogs there.

‘And people just let their dogs off, so it becomes like a dog free-for-all. Wally is the lady that runs the pub, and it’s like a bit of a family favourite of ours.’

Dominic previously opened up about his son Tom’s proposal to Zendaya in his blog in January last year, after The Odyssey star popped the question.

Recalling his own proposal 30 years ago, he said: ‘For most blokes, the stress of purchasing an engagement ring is being able to afford it.’

But then he went on to add: ‘I suspect that this was the least of Tom’s worries, more concerned with the stone, its size and clarity, its housing, which jeweller…’

Because while Dominic made something of a name for himself as a comedian, these days he’s more famous as the father of Hollywood actor Tom.

Tom proposed to Zendaya in the US over Christmas 2024, having (apparently) asked her father’s permission, bought a ring and planned it out.

No one could have been prouder than the Holland clan – an extended and prodigiously talented bunch.

Dominic and his photographer wife Nikki still live in the family home in Kingston, south-west London, where Tom and his three brothers grew up.

Dominic charmingly updated readers of his blog on the latest exploits of his eldest son yesterday, comparing the engagement to his own, 30 years ago, to Nikki, whom he met as a student at Leeds University. ‘Tom had everything planned out,’ he writes. ‘When, where, how, what to say, what to wear…

‘I on the other hand was woefully ill-prepared, almost as though I wasn’t taking it seriously.’

Amusingly, he noted that he didn’t even have a ring for his own proposal, in Amsterdam, admitting that his own marriage had an ‘inauspicious start’.

But he says, ‘here we are – 30 years later and still married. Four boys and everything pretty much in order, my ‘stardom’ and riches aside, obviously’.

Wryly, he added: ‘And I am comfortable with this [by the way]. I’m not short (financially) and I don’t envy those who are gawped at wherever they go, which brings me to the newly engaged couple.

‘I do fret that their combined stardom will amplify their spotlight and the commensurate demands on them and yet they continually confound me by handling everything with aplomb.

‘And even though show-business is a messy place for relationships and particularly so for famous couples as they crash and burn in public and are too numerous to mention, with us [as] an example, with Nikki helming this family and my ‘wisdom’ on tap and a study in getting things mostly wrong and yet somehow right at the same time, I am completely confident they will make a successful union’.

While Tom and Zendaya may be a Hollywood match (they met on the set of Spider-Man: Homecoming in 2016 and their relationship was confirmed when they were spotted kissing in a car in LA in 2021), they are very much a British pairing, too.

Tom bought a £2.5 million semi-detached townhouse, near Richmond Park and just a short distance from the house he grew up in, back in 2018.

Since then Zendaya, the star of films such as Dune and Challengers, has become a feature around these parts. Pushing a trolley at Waitrose, buying iced coffee from Gail’s, walking the dog in Richmond Park… she’s been seen doing it all.

A Californian girl, Zendaya has her own sprawling ranch home in Encino, on the outskirts of LA – near to where fires have been raging – but given Tom’s self-professed desire to step back from fame when fatherhood beckons, there couldn’t be a better place to settle down in than close to his mum and dad and the rest of the Holland clan.

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