The Laurie Arms was introduced to the new Barrack Ground estate in the historic town between July 1840 and June 1841.
According to Havering Libraries, its first owners were the Buckley’s, who went on to have a large family with six children and two domestic servants.
The pub was created with a £1,200 investment that erected parlours, a dining toom, sleeping accommodation and stables on the grounds.
It was originally called the Railway Tavern given its close proximity to the original railway station entrance in Dog Lane, now known as Waterloo Road.
In 1841 a spirits licence petition was put to magistrates with the backing of 160 names, but this failed after it was opposed by rival publicans and the magistrates.
The battle for the spirit licence continued to no avail until 1849, by which point the station’s entrance had been moved and the pub’s name was changed to The Laurie Arms.
According to Havering Libraries, the new name is thought to have been a tribute to John Laurie who was appointed magistrate in 1848 as a nod to his role in boosting the pub’s prospects.
Archives from the library have revealed that Laurie himself visited the pub on New Year’s Day in 1850 to distribute “bread and ale to the poor”.
Over a century and a number of licence transfers later, Havering Libraries said The Laurie Arms was put at risk by Romford Borough Council’s 1955 slum clearance scheme.
Slum clearances took place across Britain as part of a strategy to improve low-income housing by demolishing the slums and replacing them with new developments.
However, a report from The Romford Times in February 1957 revealed that the pub may not be lost forever and could be rebuilt.
It reported that the survival of the pub was a key point of contention and contributed to the delay in decision-making in regards to the slum clearance.
The Romford Times wrote: “Where to rebuild it is the obstacle that has been holding up the minister’s decision, which will mean new homes for 229 families.
“Ever since the public inquiry on the scheme last February, the council and the pub’s owners, Taylor, Walker and Co Ltd., have been arguing over where the new chromium plated Laurie Arms will go.
“The council’s plans provided for the new pub to stand on the south side of St Andrew’s Road, roughly opposite the site of the existing building.
“But the brewers wanted the new pub to stand either on the existing site or on an adjoining one in Waterloo Road.”
Regulars of the pub who spoke with the reporter for The Romford Times voiced their apprehension about the demolition.
Francis Caulfield, a council refuse collector, said: “Well that doesn’t make me very happy. I’ve been a regular here for 18 years.
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“You get used to a pub when you’ve been using it that long.”
Demolition of the pub got underway in 1972 and it was not rebuilt.
