The Goat, Kensington

Last updated

The Goat, Kensington
Goat Tavern, Kensington, W8 (6981899748).jpg
The Goat Tavern, Kensington, London
Kensington and Chelsea London UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
The Goat
Greater London UK location map 2.svg
Red pog.svg
The Goat
General information
Address3a Kensington High Street
Town or city London
Country England
Coordinates 51°30′08″N0°11′16″W / 51.5022°N 0.1877°W / 51.5022; -0.1877 Coordinates: 51°30′08″N0°11′16″W / 51.5022°N 0.1877°W / 51.5022; -0.1877
Construction started1695

The Goat is a public house in Kensington, London, at 3a Kensington High Street, which dates back to 1695. It is where the English serial killer John George Haigh, the "Acid Bath Murderer", met his first victim.

Contents

History

The Goat is the oldest remaining pub on Kensington High Street, being constructed in 1695. The area had become a regular east–west route when King William built Kensington Palace and The Goat was the first significant building on this new thoroughfare. [1] It was built as a coffeehouse but by 1702 it was an alehouse. In 1707, the freehold was purchased by the local parish for £80, using funds from the legacies of two women who had left money for education and support of the poor. [2] The income from the alehouse was then used to support the poor and the National School which had been established in Kensington in 1645. [2] There were extensive alterations in 1880. [3] [4] Around 1896, a new pub sign was painted by the Beggarstaffs, who had their studio in Kensington at the time. [5] This endured into the twentieth century and impressed the local art aficiando Oliver Brown. [5]

John George Haigh, the "Acid Bath Murderer"

In 1944, the English serial killer John George Haigh, the "Acid Bath Murderer", had a chance meeting in the Goat with William McSwann, a wealthy owner of amusement arcades, for whom he had worked as a chauffeur in 1936, before spending time in prison for fraud. [6]

They met at The Goat again at about 6pm on 9 September, when they had some glasses of wine and a meal, after which Haigh enticed McSwann to his workshop nearby at 79 Gloucester Road [7] (now the basement of a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken [1] ), broke his skull with a pinball table leg, and dumped his body in a 40-gallon tub which he filled with sulphuric acid. [8] Haigh went on to kill McSwann's parents almost a year later, and dissolved their corpses in sulphuric acid elsewhere, before assuming McSwann's identity and selling all of his parents' properties.

Secret tunnels to Kensington Palace

There are many rumours of tunnels linking the pub to Kensington Palace, which it overlooks, and although there are extensive vaults under the road, and perhaps tunnels into the grounds, no tunnel to the palace itself has yet been found. [3]

Present day

In 2016, the pub was owned by the Taylor Walker pub chain. [9] It is now called the Goat Tavern and part of the Greene King pub chain. [10]

Sign

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pub</span> Establishment that serves alcoholic drinks

A pub is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term public house first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was used to differentiate private houses from those which were, quite literally, open to the public as "alehouses", "taverns" and "inns". By Georgian times, the term had become common parlance, although taverns, as a distinct establishment, had largely ceased to exist by the beginning of the 19th century. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:

  1. is open to the public without membership or residency
  2. serves draught beer or cider without requiring food be consumed
  3. has at least one indoor area not laid out for meals
  4. allows drinks to be bought at a bar
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serial killer</span> Murderer of multiple people

A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three murders, others extend it to four or lessen it to two.

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

Penge is a suburb of South East London, England, now in the London Borough of Bromley, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) west of Bromley, 3.7 miles (6.0 km) north east of Croydon and 7.1 miles (11.4 km) south east of Charing Cross.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albert Pierrepoint</span> English executioner

Albert Pierrepoint was an English hangman who executed between 435 and 600 people in a 25-year career that ended in 1956. His father Henry and uncle Thomas were official hangmen before him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hammersmith nude murders</span> Series of six murders in 1960s London

The Hammersmith nude murders is the name of a series of six murders in West London, England, in 1964 and 1965. The victims, all prostitutes, were found undressed in or near the River Thames, leading the press to nickname the killer Jack the Stripper. Two earlier murders, committed in West London in 1959 and 1963, have also been linked by some investigators to the same perpetrator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Haigh</span> English serial killer (1909–1949)

John George Haigh, commonly known as the Acid Bath Murderer, was an English serial killer convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine. Haigh battered to death or shot his victims and disposed of their bodies using sulphuric acid before forging their signatures so he could sell their possessions and collect large sums of money. His actions were the subject of the television film A Is for Acid.

<i>The Black Museum</i> Radio crime-drama program

The Black Museum is a radio crime-drama program produced by Harry Alan Towers, which was broadcast in the USA on the Mutual network in 1952. It was then broadcast in Europe in 1953 on Radio Luxembourg, a commercial radio station, and was not broadcast by the BBC until 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Chapman (murderer)</span> Polish killer (1865–1903)

Seweryn Antonowicz Kłosowski, better known under his pseudonym George Chapman, was a Polish serial killer known as the Borough Poisoner. Born in Congress Poland, Chapman moved to England as an adult, where he committed his crimes. He was convicted and executed after poisoning three women, but is remembered today mostly because some contemporary police officers suspected him of being the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack the Ripper</span> Unidentified serial killer in London in 1888

Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was called the Whitechapel Murderer and Leather Apron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerald and Charlene Gallego</span> American serial killer duo

Gerald Armond Gallego and Charlene Adell Gallego are two American serial killers who terrorized Sacramento, California between 1978 and 1980. They murdered ten victims, mostly teenagers, often kept as sex slaves before killing them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Anchor, Bankside</span>

The Anchor is a pub in the London Borough of Southwark. It is in the Bankside locality on the south bank of the River Thames, close to Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge station. A tavern establishment has been at the pub's location for over 800 years. Behind the pub are buildings that were operated by the Anchor Brewery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carlyle Mansions</span>

Carlyle Mansions is a block of flats located on Cheyne Walk, in the Chelsea area of London, England. Built in 1886, it was named after Thomas Carlyle, himself a resident of Chelsea for much of his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Travers Humphreys</span>

Sir Richard Somers Travers Christmas Humphreys was a noted British barrister and judge who, during a sixty-year legal career, was involved in the cases of Oscar Wilde and the murderers Hawley Harvey Crippen, George Joseph Smith and John George Haigh, the 'Acid Bath Murderer', among many others.

Georges-Alexandre Sarret was a French criminal who was the last person to be executed in Aix-en-Provence. He was guillotined for double murder in a notorious case that involved him dissolving the bodies of his victims in sulphuric acid. Sarret's crimes reportedly inspired British serial killer John George Haigh, known as the Acid Bath Murderer.

<i>A Is for Acid</i> British TV series or program

A Is for Acid is a 2002 British television film based on the life of the serial killer John George Haigh, known as the Acid Bath Murderer, because he dissolved the bodies of six people in sulphuric acid. Haigh, hanged in 1949 for his crimes, had wrongly believed that murder could not be proven without the presence of a body. Starring Martin Clunes in the lead role, the film was shot in Scarborough, chosen because its appearance was believed similar to that of London when Haigh lived there during the 1940s and also Saltaire to represent his early life. The film was produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and aired on ITV1 on 9 September 2002. Directed by Harry Bradbeer and written by Glenn Chandler, A Is for Acid also featured among its cast Keeley Hawes and Richard Hope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horsham Town Hall</span> Municipal building in Horsham, West Sussex, England

Horsham Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Square in Horsham, West Sussex. It is a Grade II listed building.

References

  1. 1 2 Ed Glinert (1 May 2012). The London Compendium. Penguin. p. 1080. ISBN   978-0-7181-9204-4.
  2. 1 2 Faulkner, Thomas (1820), History and antiquities of Kensington, p. 249
  3. 1 2 Starren, Carolyn (2006). The Kensington book. London: Historical Publications. p. 47. ISBN   9781905286164.
  4. "Kensington High Street, south side: Kensington Court to Wright's Lane | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  5. 1 2 Campbell, Colin (1990), The Beggarstaff Posters: The Work of James Pryde and William Nicholson, Barrie & Jenkins, p. 108, ISBN   9780712620796
  6. Ben le Vay (2012). Ben Le Vay's Eccentric London: A Practical Guide to a Curious City. Bradt Travel Guides. pp. 37–38. ISBN   978-1-84162-394-8.
  7. Neil Root (31 August 2012). Frenzy!: How the tabloid press turned three evil serial killers into celebrities. Random House. p. 170. ISBN   978-1-4090-5224-1.
  8. James Moore (15 February 2015). Murder at the Inn: A Criminal History of Britain's Pubs and Hotels. History Press. p. 205. ISBN   978-0-7509-6333-6.
  9. "Goat in Kensington". Taylor-walker.co.uk. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  10. "Goat Tavern". Green King. Retrieved 13 September 2022.

Official website