The Cricketers, on Kennington Oval, was just a stone’s throw from the cricket ground but became famous for its live music nights rather than sport.
During the 1980s, under promoter Jim Driver, the pub staged performances by a wide range of acts including The Pogues, T’Pau and the Happy Mondays, who played their first ever London gig there in front of just 30 people.
The live music came to an end in 1990 after major changes to the pub industry brought about by the Thatcher government’s Beer Orders.
The legislation aimed to break up brewery monopolies, forcing companies to sell off hundreds of pubs and giving rise to new ‘pub companies’, or PubCos. The Cricketers was sold to one of these, the newly formed Inntrepeneur.
In the years that followed, the pub changed ownership and management several times but struggled to stay afloat. It finally closed in 2002, shortly before England’s cricket team ended years in the doldrums and went on to win the Ashes in 2005 after an eighteen-year wait.
Attempts to demolish the building in 2007 and 2008 were rejected by Lambeth Council, but redevelopment plans were later approved in March 2019 for housing and a replacement pub on the ground floor.
The Cricketers’ story now features in London’s Lost Pubs (£20, Pen and Sword), a new book by Sam Cullen which documents more than 200 pubs that have disappeared across the capital using memories, press cuttings and pub guides to preserve their history.
Cullen said: “As much as it’s sad that these pubs don’t exist any more, I wanted to make sure they are not lost to time by telling their stories, their history, and some of the quirky characters who drank in them.
“Pubs can tell you so much about social and cultural history. The book is a celebration of pubs that existed as a vehicle for looking at aspects of London life.”
Although The Cricketers has long since vanished from Kennington Oval, its short but vibrant spell as a live music venue ensures it will not be forgotten.
