Celebrating Eltham's inns and pubs

The Crown in 1977

Now like a lot of people I was shocked to hear that the Crown on Court Yard is closed.

It was one of our oldest pubs and we had plenty of them.

In 1840 it was being run by John Blundell who was still there the following year, but seems to have retired by 1843 when the place was in the hands of John Martin who seems very much a young man with a dtermination to go places.

At the age of 19 he is there in the 1837 land tax records renting a stable from a James Wright and land from a Mrs Dobson, and by 1843 is in the Crown renting the building and the yard.

And as he began his long partnership with the Crown I wonder what its former landlord did with his retirement, which sadly was not long for John Martin died at the age of 51 in 1844.

Not so John Martin who was to serve pints for another three decades.

The Rising Sun, 1909

Of course things are a tad different now, and most of us can list the lost Eltham pubs from the Castle, the King’s Arms and the Greyhound all of which date back to the early 19th century if not earlier along to the Welcome, and the Man of Kent.*

It may be that the Crown is closed temporarily but the national picture for pubs looks grim.  In 2012 according to the BBC 18 pubs a week called time** and the Good Pub Guide last year predicted that as many as 4,000 might shut in 2014.***

The Rising Sun, 2014

All of which we know.  In every city centre, town square and village high street you can come across smart refurbished buildings which were once offering up pints along with those ghost places with peeling and faded signs and boarded up windows.

So given that this is happening I think it is time to celebrate what we had and still have by asking for pictures, photographs and stories of Eltham pub’s.

All too often we let these places disappear and very quickly so do the memories and all the tings that go with a pub.

And if enough people contribute then perhaps we can have a wall of fame and perhaps even an exhibition.

And yes I did miss out the Yorkshire Grey and the Dover Patrol.

Pictures; The Crown, 1977, Jean Gammons,  the Rising Sun by Chrissie Rose February 2014, in 1909 from The story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909 and published on The story of Royal Eltham, by Roy Ayers, http://www.gregory.elthamhistory.org.uk/bookpages/i001.htm  

*Eltham Inns, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Eltham%20inns

**Can politicians save Britain’s pubs, BBC News February 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21402497

***Doors will shut on 4,000 complacent British pubs, The Guardian, August 29 2012, http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/aug/29/shut-british-pubs-drinkers