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Information taken from
https://runner500.wordpress.com Accessed 2024.
The Prince Arthur – A Lost Lee Green Pub.
From the outside, some pubs lure you in with warmth, light or
laughter exuding from the windows or doors. A couple of hundred
metres down Lee High Road from Lee Green, the "Duke of Edinburgh"
always has a welcoming feel, as did, the "Woodman," a little further
towards Lewisham – they are pubs that want to ‘pull’ in the wavering
would–be drinker inside. Sadly, in its latter years, at least, the
"Prince Arthur," close to Lee Green, never seemed to be one of those
pubs – it didn’t seem to offer even the slightest of enticements to
the passing casual drinker to step inside.
The building was originally one of a row of early 19th century
‘cottages’ – several of which still survive on Lee high Road, and,
from 1904 next door to the police station. The latter closed around
2003 and was converted into flats and the pub only lasted another
couple of years. It is, however, pure conjecture as to whether the
two events were in anyway linked…. The top picture from the London
Metropolitan Archives – shows the pub – a quarter of the way in from
the right in happier days.
The pub opened around 1870. The name, "Prince Arthur," was presumably
after the the 3rd son, 7th child, of Queen Victoria who had a local
connection in that he attended the Royal Military Academy in
Woolwich from 1865, when aged 16.
The first landlord seems to have been William Scudds; the 1871
census wasn’t that helpful in terms of detail, but 10 years earlier
he was living on Eltham High Street, where he’d been born. The new
pub was run with his wife Elizabeth, his sister in law, Charlotte,
and help from two servants. Ten years later saw Elizabeth still
there – listed as a beer seller, but William had died in 1876 – aged
just 36. Elizabeth was helped by two sisters and her sister-in-law
when the census enumerators called in 1881.
Elizabeth married Alfred Thurston later in 1881; the only man of
that name in the area was 70 in 1881, while they had a daughter
around 1883, Alfred is not mentioned again in on-line records and
Elizabeth is again listed as a widow in 1891. It remained a business
run by the family Elizabeth was still listed as a ‘beer retailer’ in
1901. She died in 1910 at the age of 64 – a death registered in
Greenwich.
Charles Gosling, born in 1872, seems to have taken on the pub soon
after Elizabeth died, and like her, his tenure was a long one – he
was still there when the 1939 Register was drawn up – the only other
occupant then was Vera Brighty who undertook unpaid domestic duties.
Vera was from near Wisbech and seems to have remained in Lewisham
until her death in 1998. It hasn’t been possible to find anything
definitive about Charles on-line, other than he was probably born in
Lambeth.
From the 1980s there seems to have been a steady trickle of
licensees – Brian Levett from 1988, Roger Bristow from 1989, Carol
Bristow from 1995 and probably the final landlord Gerald St Ange
from 1999.
There are fond memories of the pub in the late 1980s and 1990s in
the era when Roger and Carol Bristow ran the pub, ‘relaxed atmosphere, looked how a pub should be,
darts, good jukebox and the odd after hour sessions.’ Roger knew the
regulars by name and the after drinking refuelling was at the also
departed Starburger.
The turning point for the pub seems to have been Roger and Carol
splitting up, Carol remained and turned the "Prince Arthur" into much
more of a ‘party pub.’ The regulars seem to have drifted away soon
after.
Other memories of the pub from that era seem few and far between –
it doesn’t seem to warrant any mentions in Facebook public pages at
least, while there are a few comments on other sites – notably Beer
in the Evening, they were universally negative. The repeatable ones
include it being a ‘horrifically bad boozer.’
The pub pulled its last pint in 2005; this was well before the spate
of closures after the change in smoking laws, along with changing
drinking patterns and supermarkets discounting alcohol contributed
to a 12% reduction in the number of pubs between 2007 and 2015. It
was taken over after its closure in 2005 by the painting and
decorating merchants – Driscolls – who moved from the shop front
next door into the building.
Above photo 2024. |
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