The Gladstone Arms is a

public house A pub (short for public house) 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 wa ...

Lant Street Lant Street is a street south of Marshalsea Road in Southwark, south London, England.Lant Street Association ...

in the Borough – the Southwark district of London. It is also known as The Glad. Built on the site of a Victorian pub, the current building was constructed in the 1920s. It has been threatened by redevelopment but its popularity as a meeting place and great live music venue have caused it to be recognised as an

asset of community value In England, an asset of community value (ACV) is land or property of importance to a local community which is subject to additional protection from development under the Localism Act 2011. Voluntary and community organisations can nominate an ass ...

History

There has been a public house here since the 19th century and, after Charles Dickens lodged in the street, he subsequently referred to it in ''

The Pickwick Papers ''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with '' Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to ...

''. The current structure was rebuilt in the interwar period of the 20th century. It is named after

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

who was prime minister four times in the 19th century. In addition to its traditional drinking clientele, it attracts young, creative types and gays.

Music

It is used as a live music venue and has its own record label. The type of music includes folk, blues and rock. Acts who have performed there include Ellie Goulding and

Noah and the Whale Noah and the Whale were a British indie rock and folk band from Twickenham, formed in 2006. The band's last line-up consisted of Charlie Fink (vocals, guitar), Tom Hobden (violin/ keyboards), Matt "Urby Whale" Owens (bass guitar), Fred Abbott ...

. The pub is small and intimate and so does not have a stage or elaborate sound system but it is popular and crowded on music nights. It was the local pub Mike Stock,

Matt Aitken Matthew James Aitken (born 25 August 1956) is an English songwriter and record producer, brought up in Astley, Greater Manchester, best known as the creative force behind the 1980s and early 1990s songwriting/production trio Stock Aitken Waterman ...

and

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Water ...

used to hang out at the beginning of their career.

Closure and re-opening

In 2015, the pub was threatened by demolition and redevelopment as a 10-storey block of flats but the planning application was refused after a campaign by the Walworth Society to save it. The building was not listed by

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked w ...

but it was recognised as an

. The tenancy has been revived since December 2016. Local MP

Neil Coyle Neil Alan John Coyle (born 30 December 1978) is a British Independent politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bermondsey and Old Southwark since 2015. He was elected MP as a member of the Labour Party, but was suspended ...

joined the Campaign for Real Ale in a

pub crawl A pub crawl (sometimes called a bar tour, bar crawl or bar-hopping) is the act of visiting multiple pubs or bars in a single session. Background Many European cities have public pub crawls that serve as social gatherings for local expatriates a ...

to save this and other local pubs and has been successful. The pub was inactive and boarded up for a period (between November 2016 and April 2017) after the building's owner demanded a rent hike of £30k, causing the previous management to close the business. New managers Megha Khanna, Abhinav Saxena and Gaurav Khanna took over the lease in April 2017.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gladstone Arms, The Pubs in the London Borough of Southwark