The Lamb in Market Place is just one of the unique watering holes that Havering has to offer.
It stands next to stalls that continue to nod to the town’s rich history as a market village.
The pub has a long and complex past with documents marking its creation to somewhere in the region of 1681, when it also offered rooms as an inn.
According to Havering Libraries, the venue at one point also included a blacksmith’s shop, standing as a one-stop shop for needs at the time.
The pub has had a fascinating history (Image: Havering Libraries – Local Studies) Archived documents suggest it hasn’t always been known as The Lamb, with references made to The Christopher, The Hind and The Holy Lamb.
Between 1851 and 1852 newspaper clippings revealed that the pub was up to let, describing it as “well-known and frequented house, being situated in the centre of the market”.
In the same advertisements, The Lamb was reported to have fourteen beds and “extensive stabling” for someone looking to carry on the business at the public house.
The clipping from October 1852 came a short while before the pub was destroyed in a serious fire on November 11 that same year.
The blaze was reported as a “tremendous conflagration” by the Suffolk Chronicle, which also burnt down three houses belonging to a pawnbroker, a stationer and a line draper.
Reporting at the time puts the first signs of the fire at 4am, with “the Brentwood engine” arriving at 6am in which time the “flames had attained a fearful height”.
The Lamb was destroyed in around an hour, with the nearby Golden Lion Inn also at risk.
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Rumours of the origin of the blaze swirled in the days after the major incident, but were soon put to rest by landlord at the time Charles Reynolds.
By 1855, the pub was rebuilt and back in operation.
The pub was passed down through many hands after this including a Yorkshireman, a haycarter, a cattle dealer and more.
It is now run by pub chain Greene King.
