Now in her 80s and helping to care for beloved husband Godfrey, the Hampstead resident is remembering the sheer tenacity of keeping London’s longest running pub theatre going for 57 years.
Despite a “sitting tenancy” with freeholder Camden Council since 1971, she was served notice that her lease on the upstairs room at The Horseshoe would be terminated by current landlord Urban Pubs and Bars.
Ben Elton, who did early comedy gigs at Pentameters Theatre, has donated £500 to the Crowdfunder to help with storing equipment and continuing to make theatre work. (Image: PA) They brought the curtain down on Pentameters Theatre citing unpaid rent, poor repair, and dwindling productions at the Heath Street venue.
But Leonie says she had good relations with previous operators of the pub, and she and supporters say the theatre has historically paid its way in terms of upkeep.
“I’ve been running it single handed for all these years with no financial help – or grant from Camden Council,” Leonie said.
“I’ve worked with breweries, I got on like a house on fire with (Wetherspoon founder) Tim Martin when it was a Wetherspoon’s, and even at one point ran the whole building.
“I have spent thousands of pounds on the theatre. We built a stage, put in a fire escape, fixed the leaking roof.
“I just wanted to carry on for as long as possible – my nephew and daughter agreed to take over.”
She said: “I don’t have the money to pay lawyers to fight it – now we have to have everything out, props, costumes, books. It’s a nightmare. If my stuff isn’t out it could be thrown out. It would be merciless if they locked me out.”
Supporters say there have been 80 Pentameters performances this year and rent was historically “pre-paid” through investment in the space, including an injection of capital to upgrade the building, fund roof repairs, and pay for electricity.
So Leonie has packed up the lighting and sound equipment, and a wealth of archival material, and put it in storage.
The V&A, which houses The Theatre Museum collection, has expressed interest in old flyers and programmes; there are plans to stage performances in other venues, and Leonie, who is a published poet, is writing a history of the theatre.
“There are thousands of stories!” she says, citing the time when she talked to a man in a bar who turned out to be Harold Pinter and invited him to stage a play.
“It was kept very secret,” she recalls. “He did The Dumb Waiter with his son and acted in it himself.”
Or the early days of the alternative comedy scene when Ben Elton, French and Saunders, Rick Mayall and Adrian Edmondson put on shows in the theatre.
“They asked if I could help them, and I said ‘you will have to change the name dear’. If I put up posters of a show called A Death on The Toilet around Hampstead they will be torn down.'”
The theatre goes back to 1968 when she was in a touring group, The Iambic Three, performing poetry and running workshops.
“We went around the folk clubs, and one day I walked into the Freemasons Arms in Hampstead and we ended up doing a gig in the skittle alley,” says Leonie.
“I couldn’t believe that it was absolutely packed – I decided I wasn’t going to tour anymore, I was going to stay, and asked the landlord if I could hire the basement of the pub. He said yes as long as it could still be a skittle alley a couple of nights a week.”
She went into her local the Rosslyn Arms in Hampstead High Street and offered regulars “to come down and help build a theatre for the price of a pint”.
In 1971 she moved to The Three Horseshoes (now The Horseshoe) where there was already an upstairs folk club, and began a residency that has only now come to a sudden end.
She said: “We built a theatre and never looked back. We did everything – theatre for schools, ran rep companies, worked with amazing people from all over the world.”
She adds: “Pentameters doesn’t stop. There’s lots I want to do still.”
A Camden Council spokesperson said: “We are committed to supporting our local businesses and arts venues in Camden. We are speaking to Urban Pubs, the leaseholders of this building, to better understand the current situation and how we may be able to assist.”
