The Harrison in Bloomsbury, although not a pub theatre, is a hot spot for emerging comedy. It too suffered a similar existential dilemma in 2024 with another staggering bill from the council, but it too received an eventual reprieve. Both examples are a sobering reminder that pubs as venues exist in a precarious state. Artistic directors of pub theatres rarely have Arts Council Funding and walk a financial tightrope while juggling multiple responsibilities. Many struggle to balance the books while delivering varied, diverse and affordable theatre for off West End theatre audiences.

These unique performance spaces, often in the backs of, or upstairs from working pubs, historically might have been meeting rooms, ballrooms, snooker rooms or boxing rings (as was the case of the original King’s Head Theatre) but now comprise a vital eco-system in theatreland, as well as a welcoming environment for new writers, directors, and performers. “Pubs offer a place to perform, a Brookian, empty space. Perhaps they started in the Courtyard Inns where Tudor rogues and vagabonds (which is how actors were regarded if they didn’t have a patron) plied their trade” reflects Chris Lilly, Senior Reviewer at London Pub Theatres and a theatre goer for over fifty years. 

“The saloon theatres that preceded the growth of purpose-built music halls in the end of the nineteenth century were public houses with theatres built in the back. Pub theatre today offers unrivalled excitement of the new and undiscovered, sometimes searingly good acting, three feet from your seat. It allows the next generation of theatre makers to learn their craft" continues Lilly. At London Pub Theatres, these establishments are a cause of daily celebration. But we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of those that sadly did not survive. Here are some that made a real contribution to the pub theatre scene. They are gone but not forgotten.

The Man in the Moon at the World’s End pub in Chelsea was a stalwart of pub theatre delivering quality productions from the 1980s onwards until it was closed in 2003 to become a pizza restaurant. It was one of the early ones with a good reputation, a nose for the relevant and the ability to court controversy or generate headlines, such as their production of The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton, that comments upon imperialism and the abuse of power, and a play about Mark Chapman, John Lennon’s assassin.

Run for a while by Kevin Moran, writer James Woolf, who had several productions here, recalls: “It was on two floors with an upstairs balcony and three sides. It fit in just over 100 people. It had a bunker-like feel because audiences had to go down into the theatre.” Writer, director, and PR, Matthew Parker recalls it as “a real bastion of cutting-edge British theatre. The first to revive the Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton in 2000, (prosecuted by Mary Whitehouse for gross indecency in the 1980s). I know this because I was in it as a 25-year-old! I'm a huge Brenton fan. He came to see it and so I met him. The theatre regularly got national press in to review. It really was a wonderful place”.

Above The Stag Theatre was founded by Peter Bull in 2008 and was situated above The Stag, a gay pub in Victoria until 2012. At the time of its existence, it was the only producing venue in the UK presenting a year round programme of LGBTQ+ theatre until the building was eventually demolished. The company moved into a renovated railway arch in Vauxhall, then onto the Albert Embankment until it was priced out. It ceased trading in 2022 although the production company continued.