was never a khazi of a pub off it,the alldayers were excellent,people travelled all over the country to come to em,regarding the millwall boys[steve davis lookalike]they started the whole acid house scene and baleric music scene,not bad for downham boys,and some of the doormen were charlton boys from the estate.never get them days again,used to be there for a good 12 hours sometimes,still only a chavvy then.
[cite]Posted By: lucy lou[/cite]was never a khazi of a pub off it,the alldayers were excellent,people travelled all over the country to come to em,regarding the millwall boys[steve davis lookalike]they started the whole acid house scene and baleric music scene,not bad for downham boys,and some of the doormen were charlton boys from the estate.never get them days again,used to be there for a good 12 hours sometimes,still only a chavvy then.
how have you rested your case,people had fun there coming from all over the country,most kids were into that music then,of course some were into chess clubs and kite flying.
never made it to Downham Tavern but Echoes (Bow), The Albany in Deptford, Bonnies in Sydenham and the odd all dayer in Margate made for a great couple of years...
was never a khazi of a pub off it,the alldayers were excellent,people travelled all over the country to come to em,regarding the millwall boys[steve davis lookalike]they started the whole acid house scene and baleric music scene,not bad for downham boys,and some of the doormen were charlton boys from the estate.never get them days again,used to be there for a good 12 hours sometimes,still only a chavvy then.
The Steve Davis look a like (LJ) has done a couple of Downham tavern reunions in the last few years.
used to box there for eltham,never drank or raved there.
I boxed there for Orpington. Used to box a kid from Eltham called Gerry Taylor back then. ‘I think the Downham Tavern was known as the biggest pub in Europe at one time. Might be wrong.
Yeah, he got into a row with some Millwall down the Old Kent Road. Went down swinging though, but sadly not connecting. Just like his boxing career, by all accounts.
After that the CL character “nolly” was no more. The man behind the name reinvented himself under another name I believe though, but was never the same.
used to box there for eltham,never drank or raved there.
I boxed there for Orpington. Used to box a kid from Eltham called Gerry Taylor back then. ‘I think the Downham Tavern was known as the biggest pub in Europe at one time. Might be wrong.
definitely the biggest in England. over a thousand people could drink in their at any one time.
Biggest pub, but I thought the Falcon by Clapham Junction station had the longest bar....though I maybe wrong, for what it's worth I believe Tottenham's new ground will have the longest bar, when it opens.
I sometimes think people get the wrong impression of Downham. It was originally built for decent working class people who paid a substantial rent for the chance to live on the 'garden estate', in a house with an inside toilet and bath.
In the early days inspectors would visit to make sure that standards were kept up, doorsteps scrubbed, gardens kept and the inside well maintained. Residents would be told in no uncertain terms if they failed to maintain standards.
The Downham Tavern served the residents in all sorts of ways. Yes the biggest pub in England, but also facilitated tearooms, shows and even had a really grand room for dances.
This video is before my time, but features the dance hall at the back of the Tavern, you can still make out its former splendour. The people talking could easily be my parents / grand parents - I feel that I'd heard all these stories before, as I grew up on the estate from the mid 50s. There were a few rotten apples around of course, but by and large the Downhamites were a pretty decent lot and as for us kids? We were perfect in every way
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I rest my case!
;o)
Damn - rumbled!
;o)
never made it to Downham Tavern but Echoes (Bow), The Albany in Deptford, Bonnies in Sydenham and the odd all dayer in Margate made for a great couple of years...
RIP "nolly".
‘I think the Downham Tavern was known as the biggest pub in Europe at one time. Might be wrong.
After that the CL character “nolly” was no more. The man behind the name reinvented himself under another name I believe though, but was never the same.
RIP “nolly”
In the early days inspectors would visit to make sure that standards were kept up, doorsteps scrubbed, gardens kept and the inside well maintained. Residents would be told in no uncertain terms if they failed to maintain standards.
The Downham Tavern served the residents in all sorts of ways. Yes the biggest pub in England, but also facilitated tearooms, shows and even had a really grand room for dances.
This video is before my time, but features the dance hall at the back of the Tavern, you can still make out its former splendour. The people talking could easily be my parents / grand parents - I feel that I'd heard all these stories before, as I grew up on the estate from the mid 50s. There were a few rotten apples around of course, but by and large the Downhamites were a pretty decent lot and as for us kids? We were perfect in every way