Goldsmiths Tavern

Pub in Lewisham, London, England

The Goldsmiths Tavern

Location| 316 New Cross Rd,
Lewisham,
London, SE14
Closed| 2003

The Goldsmiths Tavern was a pub and venue for both live music and comedy located at 316 New Cross Road, in the New Cross area of the London Borough of Lewisham in south-east London.

## History

[edit]

The pub was originally named The New Cross House. Nathan Dews' book The History of Deptford from 1884 refers to a pub of that name "at the top of Clifton Hill", and so presumably in roughly the same spot.[1] An issue of the Berkshire Chronicle from 16 July 1825 also refers to an establishment of that name in Deptford.[2] The original building was demolished and rebuilt around 1870.[3]

Local wrestling and boxing instructor Jack Wannop taught in the back room, then known as The Glass House, around 1885. The pub hosted a series of wrestling meets under Wannop’s management.[4]

In the 1960s Goldsmiths University students ran a folk club there.[5] The club saw performances by acts such as Pete Stanley, and Peggy Seeger.[6][5]

It changed its name in the early 1980s to the Goldsmiths Tavern after the University.[6] It was the original venue of Vic Reeves Big Night Out, a live comedy night he started there in 1986 before moving it to the Albany Empire in 1988, and also where Reeves met future comedy partner Bob Mortimer.[7][8]

Whilst generally attracting a mixed clientele, it held gay nights in the 1980s and was considered an LGBTQ friendly space.[9][10] Paul O'Grady would also perform there.[11] A club night named The Gift, calling itself "The only London Gay Alternative Club", ran there in the mid-1980s and hosted bands such as The Love Act and The House of Love.[12]

Other bands to play the pub in the 1980s included The Ex, The Prisoners, The Dentists, Alternative TV and Test Department.[6]

In the 1990s the pub was a venue for techno and drum and bass nights, as well as punk and anarcho-punk bands. Acts to play there included Radical Dance Faction, Back to the Planet, U.K. Subs, and Senser. Inner Terrestrials recorded a live album titled Escape From New Cross there in 1997.[6]

It closed following a big police raid, then re-opened as just a pub in 2003.[6]

The building is still a pub, though since 2011 it is once again named The New Cross House.[13][14][6]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Dews, Nathan (1884). The History of Deptford - In The Counties of Kent and Surrey. Simpkin. p. 307.
2. ^ "Sales By Auction". Berkshire Chronicle. Vol. 1, no. XXV. 16 July 1825.
3. ^ "New Cross House, New Cross Road, New Cross, 1856". Ideal Homes - University of Greenwich.
4. ^ "How carpenter, boxer and champion wrestler Jack Wannop became the 'most popular man in New Cross'". Ladywell Live. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2025.
5. ^ a b Bean, JP (2014). Singing from the Floor: A History of British Folk Clubs. Faber & Faber. ISBN 9780571305469.
6. ^ a b c d e f Talling, Paul (2020). London's Lost Music Venues. Damaged Goods Books. p. 154\. ISBN 978-1-9162327-0-9.
7. ^ Mortimer, Bob (2021). And Away... Gallery UK. ISBN 9781398505308.
8. ^ Hunt, Leon (2015). Cult British TV comedy: From Reeves and Mortimer to Psychoville. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9781526102362.
9. ^ "Oral Histories: Richard Stableford". In Living Memory.
10. ^ Spartacus International Gay Guide. Spartacus. 1988. ISBN 978-3-924163-33-4.
11. ^ O'Grady, Paul (2012). Still Standing: The Savage Years. London: Bantam. ISBN 978-0-593-06939-4.
12. ^ "London Goldsmiths Tavern (The Gift) 13/06/1987". The House of Love Archive.
13. ^ Birkett-Eyles, Rupert; Friend, Jack; Merrell, Harry (8 April 2024). "Discovering East London's lost music venues". East London Lines. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
14. ^ Allen, Carl (2016). London Gig Venues. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 9781445658209.

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