King's Head, Merton

Last updated

The pub building in 2010 Former pub, Merton High Street (geograph 1939645).jpg
The pub building in 2010

The King's Head was a public house in Merton High Street. An inn existed on the site from the 16th century, and served as a post house in the 17th century. The modern building was constructed in 1933, and is Grade II listed. It closed as a pub in 2004, and later became offices for London General Buses.

History

An inn was known to stand on the area in the year 1594, but the present building was only from 1933. It is, however, listed as a local Grade II building. [1]

In 1684, the daily post service to Epsom was started. The King's Head became the Post House for Merton. Young & Bainbridge purchased the building in 1831 and when the character of Merton changed, seven years later with the arrival of the railway, it became a typical pub. After being rebuilt 1933, was a larger pub, with five bars and many associated activities. [2]

It finally closed as a pub in 2004, and stayed empty for three years. The building was then bought by London General Buses, and the internal structure rebuilt as a headquarter office, [3] keeping the listed exterior in its original appearance.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mitcham</span> Human settlement in England

Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in Southwest London, England. It is centred 7.2 miles (11.6 km) southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It has been a settlement throughout recorded history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pentonville Road</span> Road in central London

Pentonville Road is a road in Central London that runs west to east from Kings Cross to City Road at The Angel, Islington. The road is part of the London Inner Ring Road and part of the boundary of the London congestion charge zone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruthin</span> County town in Wales

Ruthin is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh rhudd (red) and din (fort), after the colour of sandstone bedrock, from which the castle was built in 1277–1284. The Old Mill, Ruthin, is nearby. Maen Huail, a registered ancient monument attributed to the brother of Gildas and King Arthur, stands in St Peter's Square.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Hart</span> Heraldic badge of Richard II of England

The White Hart was the personal badge of Richard II, who probably derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock. It may also have been a pun on his name, as in "Rich-hart". In the Wilton Diptych, which is the earliest authentic contemporary portrait of an English king, Richard II wears a gold and enamelled white hart jewel, and even the angels surrounding the Virgin Mary all wear white hart badges. In English Folklore, the white hart is associated with Herne the Hunter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Angel, Islington</span> Historic landmark in Islington, London,

The Angel, Islington, is a historic landmark and a series of buildings that have stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road in Islington, London, England. The land originally belonged to the Clerkenwell Priory and has had various properties built on it since the 16th century. An inn on the site was called the "Angel Inn" by 1614, and the crossing became generally known as "the Angel". The site was bisected by the New Road, which opened in 1756, and properties on the site have been rebuilt several times up to the 20th century. The corner site gave its name to Angel tube station, opened in 1901, and the surrounding Angel area of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llandoger Trow</span> Building in Bristol, England

The Llandoger Trow is a historic public house in Bristol, south-west England. Dating from 1664, it is on King Street, between Welsh Back and Queen Charlotte Street, near the old city centre docks. Named by a sailor who owned the pub after Llandogo in Wales which built trows, the building was damaged in World War II, but remained in sufficiently good condition to be designated Grade II* listed building status in 1959. The pub is said to have inspired Robert Louis Stevenson to write of the Admiral Benbow Inn in Treasure Island and Daniel Defoe supposedly met Alexander Selkirk there, his inspiration for Robinson Crusoe. The pub is also supposedly haunted, with up to 15 ghosts, the best known being a small child whose footsteps can be heard on the top floor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merton, Oxfordshire</span> Human settlement in England

Merton is a village and civil parish near the River Ray, about 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 424.

Wheatley is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Oxford. The parish includes the hamlet of Littleworth, which is immediately to the west of Wheatley village. The 2011 census recorded the parish population as 3,913.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crown and Treaty</span> Pub in Uxbridge, London

The Crown and Treaty is a pub on Oxford Road in Uxbridge, London, England, where Charles I and his Parliamentary opponents during the English Civil War held negotiations between 30 January and 22 February 1645. It is a Grade II* listed building, dating from 1576.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strand-on-the-Green</span> Riverside area in West London, England

Strand-on-the-Green is one of Chiswick's four medieval villages, and a "particularly picturesque" riverside area in West London. It is a conservation area, with many "imposing" listed buildings beside the River Thames; a local landmark, the Kew Railway Bridge that crosses the River Thames and the Strand, is itself Grade II listed. Oliver's Island is just offshore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whitechapel Road</span> Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Tavern</span> Pub and music venue in Stepney, London

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Munslow</span> Human settlement in England

Munslow is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is situated on the B4368, 7 miles (11 km) northeast of the small town of Craven Arms, in the Corvedale, at around 140 metres (460 ft) above sea level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King and Queen, Brighton</span> Pub in Brighton, England

The King and Queen is a pub in the seaside resort of Brighton, part of the city of Brighton and Hove. The present building, a "striking" architectural "pantomime" by the prolific local firm Clayton & Black, dates from the 1930s, but a pub of this name has stood on the site since 1860—making it one of the first developments beyond the boundaries of the ancient village. This 18th-century pub was, in turn, converted from a former farmhouse. Built using materials characteristic of 16th-century Vernacular architecture, the pub is in the Mock Tudor style and has a wide range of extravagant decorative features inside and outside—contrasting with the simple design of the neighbouring offices at 20–22 Marlborough Place, designed a year later. English Heritage has listed the pub at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Widow's Son, London</span> Pub in Bromley-by-Bow, London

The Widow's Son is a Grade II* listed public house at 75 Devons Road, in Bromley-by-Bow in the East End of London. It was built in the early 19th century, possibly 1848, and the existing building is supposedly on the site of an old widow's cottage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Yorkshire Grey</span>

The Yorkshire Grey was a common name for public houses in England, some still survive but most have now closed or changed their name. They were named for the Yorkshire Grey Horse, a breed commonly used to pull brewery drays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Punch Bowl Inn</span> Former pub in Hurst Green, Lancashire, England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pubs in Brighton</span>

Public houses, popularly known as pubs, are a significant feature of the history and culture of the English seaside resort of Brighton. The earliest pubs trace their history back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when present-day Brighton was a fishing village. Several coaching inns were founded in the 18th century as transport improved and communications with other towns developed, and around the same time other pubs became established in the fashionable Old Steine area in Brighton's early years as a resort. Many new pubs, originally beerhouses, were established after an Act of Parliament in 1830 loosened restrictions; two of these "Beerhouse Act" pubs remain in business. In the following decade the opening of Brighton's railway station provided another major boost to the pub trade, and by the late 19th century there were nearly 800 licensed venues in the town. Numbers declined gradually—as late as 1958 there was said to be "one pub for every day of the year"—and by the early 21st century around 300 pubs were still trading, with others having closed but surviving in alternative use.

References

  1. "Listed building description" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 September 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  2. "The Story of a Public House"
  3. "Change of use notice" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.

51°25′00″N0°10′53″W / 51.41661°N 0.18140°W / 51.41661; -0.18140