Bargehouse Road

North Woolwich

Above photo 1926, by kind permission Chris Mansfield. http://www.chrismansfieldphotos.com/

From the 1951 film "Pool of London."

Above photo showing Bargehouse Road, 2018.

Although North Woolwich is on the Essex side of the Thames the area was administered with the rest of Woolwich after the aftermath of the 1066 conquest and so was once part of Kent. The name North Woolwich became part of Essex after the opening of the now closed railway station with that name in 1847. In 1888 it became part of the County of London and in 1965 became part of Greater London.

The Bargehouse was probably the first pub in the area being marked on an 1815 map next to the ‘military ferry’ in North Woolwich. Circa 1839, Mr How built a new promenade for the Barge House Ferry which was later supported by the proprietors of the pub itself. Licensee records however date from 1848 with ownership first belonging to James Ames.

The Bargehouse did suffer from a somewhat disorderly reputation with two bargemen being arrested for fighting and assaulting a Police Constable in 1869 and 2 local residents being fined for drunkenness “during prohibited hours” in 1892.

The pub was rebuilt in 1925, by Charrington Brewery - was later destroyed during WW2 on 7th September 1940.

The area was used as a setting for a daring car chase in the 1951 film "Pool of London" - the car is driven through London (strangely empty of traffic) and dumped into the Thames to fool the police.

Fifteen years later the same location was used for a reverse shot. In the 1966 film "The Sandwich Man" the hero takes an amphibious car down the river from central London and emerges from the river at this point. You can see the clip at the 1 hour 26 minute point on this link https://youtu.be/q6DoCx1Xt1w?t=1h26m

The pub was a casualty of war being destroyed by a bomb in 1940.

LICENSEE LIST