9 Plumstead Road

Woolwich

Above photo, circa 1955.

Photos above and below taken from http://www.flickr.com by Matt Martin in January 2007.

Above photo 25 September 2016, by kind permission Chris Mansfield. http://www.chrismansfieldphotos.com/

The pub's name stemmed from the largest gun ever made at the Woolwich Arsenal. This was a massive RML 12-inch 35-ton gun, or a series of similar large calibre guns, manufactured in 1872 at the nearby Woolwich Arsenal for the battleship HMS Devastation. The large size of the guns led someone to remark that a collection of them looked like "a nursery full of infants,” and the name "Woolwich Infant" stuck for that class of weaponry.

A popular anecdote suggests that when the original gun was first fired, its barrel cracked.

During its time the pub was an established local venue for many years, hosting a darts team that saw a finalist in the National Darts Championship in 1984. In its later years, after a makeover, it became a popular venue for the local LGBT+ community.

A fire in 2006 wrecked the interior, leading to the pub’s permanent closure shortly afterwards. The building was briefly a second-hand shop and then a clothing store before being converted into a branch of Sam's Chicken fast-food restaurant, which is still in operation today. The pub sign remained for a few years after closure but was eventually removed around early 2017.

Above print showing the gun the pub was named after.

I am informed that this pub is unfortunately now closed and in April 2009 the front was ripped out and it's now operating as a shop.

Project 2014 has been started to try and identify all the pubs that are and have ever been open in Kent. I have just added this pub to that list but your help is definitely needed regarding it's history.

As the information is found or sent to me, including photographs, it will be shown here.

Thanks for your co-operation.

LICENSEE LIST

DIGBY George 1906-11+ (age 56 in 1911)

SHAW Alice E Mrs 1921+

BERTIE Brian 1938+

BARBER Herbert Benjamin pre 1944

https://pubwiki.co.uk/PlumsteadRoad9.shtml

Census