Comments on: The Alphabet Of Lost Pubs H-L

By: Jeff Maynard

Jeff Maynard — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 03:31:11 +0000

My Great-Grandfather, David Bloom, was the tenant of the Kings Head, 128 Commercial Road, which is pictured above, from about 1899 to his death in 1925. He lived over the pub with his wife, five children, his mother and several of his late sister’s children.

By: Ewan

Ewan — Fri, 21 Apr 2017 10:18:43 +0000

Love to see these old photos! However, just to note that the photo labelled the King’s Arms, Rawstorne Street is in fact the King’s Arms at 11a Northington Street WC1N 2JF (which was open by 1748, rebuilt 1898, and is still open as the Lady Ottoline, to which it was renamed in 2011). Also, as far as I know, the King’s Arms on Rawstorne Street is still there as offices (it’s still on Google streetview as of mid-2016).

By: frank hadley

frank hadley — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 14:31:04 +0000

wonderful photos of the old london pubs,
they all had their own character and were a great place to be at the weekend.
my favourite area for pubs was roman road bow, known locally as the roman,
in the 60s every other pub had live music, we were spoilt for choice.
many thanks for posting.

By: Jon Raper

Jon Raper — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 09:45:07 +0000

Thanks Peter. That gives an interesting insight into a workforce of single men and women who owned no home, at least not close by, and came to London from the counties or abroad to seek work and betterment. Not unlike the current situation in other industries.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 09:43:03 +0000

The Lord Nelson in Millwall was the pub used by many of my family back in the distant past. My Dad and his brother Tom were in the darts team for years. They played on a 5-10 board, not the usual 1-20 board. Uncle Tom was allowed to pull his own pints of Guinness – of which he imbibed copious amounts. Never saw him drunk though. He was stick-thin and 6ft 2ins tall. All the men used to go every Christmas day for a family drink before dinner, usually rolling home after 3pm to Aunt Dolly’s place in Cahir Street to be told in no uncertain terms by various aunts and my Mum that dinner was in the dustbin! The East End pub isn’t what it used to be now. There are very few – if any – that are still catering for the same communities that existed back in the days before the developers got their hands on the streets of my London and destroyed it.

By: gkbowood

gkbowood — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 23:12:35 +0000

It was fun to GOOGLE the sites and see how the pubs have changed. But it was a very sad to view the derelict Huntingdon Arms on Burke street. I can see how these old pubs might get demolished once they become so neglected…

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 16:19:40 +0000

I love the big sign “Alight Here for the Troxy”!
Most people today would say “Yer what?”

By: Peter Holford

Peter Holford — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 14:06:45 +0000

I think I can answer Jon’s query. My family were in the pub trade and a big pub often had several live-in members of staff. My uncle had a big pub next to the old Merton Park studios and even in the 1960s he was recruiting young members of staff direct from Ireland. At any one time there were five live-in employees. In 1973 I stood in as a manager of one of my uncle’s pubs in Wandsworth where there were two barmen living on the top floor with their own bathroom and toilet – the family quarters were on the 1st floor. The ghost lived in the attic!

By: Dave Hunt

Dave Hunt — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 13:38:01 +0000

Amazing how many of these pubs were on corner sites,,,,must have been useful fronting on two streets…also very visible. Some of them are majestic structures and I’m glad to see several are still open. I LOVE my daily read of Spitalfields Review….very very interesting….even though I live in Shropshire!

By: Jon Raper

Jon Raper — Sun, 06 Nov 2016 08:25:58 +0000

A good number of these pubs have two floors above them. This seems to me to be excessive space for just the publican’s family. Was the intention of the brewery to offer B & B accommodation or did they intend for the first floor to be hired rooms for society meetings and community events?
It seems unlikely that they were intended as two floors of separated living accommodation as there is often no separate access; only access through the ground-floor of the pub itself.
Or was it that publicans were likely to have much bigger families when the majority of these pubs were built?