Above photo 1934. Kindly sent by Rory Kehoe.

Above photo, 1955, kindly sent by Rory Kehoe. Showing what was Billed as "the future" the auto-barmaid dispensed Light Ale, IPA, or Lager for 2 bob (10p) per half pint bottle!

Above photo, 2008.

Above photo 2018.

Above photo 2024.

Above sign 2018.

From the Barclay, Perkin's Anchor Magazine - Volume 14, No.6, June 1934.

The "Tiger's Head" very ably run by out tenants, Mr and Mrs King, is essentially an inn of the olde worlde type and caters very largely for the residents of Chislehurst, who apparently prefer Mrs King's cooking to their own. She was at one time in the service of the Danish Legation.

The bedrooms are always let and in great demand. That wonderful young Irishman, Jack Doyle, the boxer has been living there recently and he speaks most highly of the "Tiger's Head" and Mrs King's excellent food. Mushrooms on toast have always a prominent place on the menu at the "Tiger's Head" hotel. These edibles come from the Chislehurst Caves, where there is a vast and growing colony of them. How they first got into the caves is revealed in the story of the three City Don Quixotes. When the financial slump caused an economic wave in City offices, three young bachelors decided that they could not keep their jobs while married men were being dismissed. So they handed in their resignations and set about creating an industry. One of them heard about mushroom-growing in the catacombs of Paris and it seemed to him that Chislehurst caves were as good as the catacombs any day. He found it easy enough to secure a lease of the caves but he could not use the entrance because it belonged to somebody else. So he and his partners dug their way through the chalky soil until they ran into one of the tunnels. Beds were prepared, mushroom spawn was bought and the growers got going. Imagine these three enterprising youngsters - their names are Gardner, Lovesly and Gush - getting up at dawn to see how their crop yielded. Imagine their disappointment when they saw no more than a few parched yellow fungi sticking miserably out of their beds. That happened several mornings. It nearly put an end to the venture. The trouble was that there was no ventilation: the air did not move in those tunnels. So they gave up growing and started digging again. They dug a great hole which became a pit and called it a ventilation shaft. Coke fire was ignited at the bottom of the well and this caused the hot air to rise up the shaft, thereby creating the much-needed air current. Back they went to growing and the experiment worked like magic, for when they went back to the caves next morning, they found thousands of healthy and respectable-looking mushrooms. Since then, the same has happened every morning. The normal yield is two hundred pounds daily. The three one-time City clerks have since formed a company under the title Kent Mushrooms Limited and they are gratified to find that there is more in the caves of Chislehurst than there was in the City offices.

(As of January 2021 Kent Mushrooms Ltd is still trading, with a Mr Gardner still at the helm. Rory Kehoe.)