The Twickenham Museum
Exhibitions : Public Houses

Whitton Pubs
Three and half centuries of ale, beer and public houses.

The White Hart. The poster says 'Lloyd George squeals. So do Chinese pigs'
The earliest known tavern or Inn was The Bull's Head Ale House that stood in what is today Murray Park and made way for a villa to house the Duke of Argyll's mistress around 1730. A cottage close by on Kneller Road dating to the 1680s took over the local and passing trade in 1722 run by licensee John Underwood. It was named The White Hart and remains today Whitton's oldest business.       

Around the corner from The White Hart on Nelson Road, the Red Lion captured trade on and off Hounslow Heath from 1819 and was demolished in the 1960s. Further west on Nelson Road The Admiral Nelson celebrated the 25th anniversary of the famous Admiral's victory at Trafalgar in 1805. The building we see today replaced the original during the Whitton building boom of the 1930s.       

The Duke of Cambridge is named after His Royal Highness who brought about the Royal Military School of Music at Kneller Hall in the 1850s. That institution is now gone but the pub remains. As does The Prince Albert on Hounslow Road built around the same time by local philanthropist and property developer Louis Kyezor. The core of the original cottage survives from that time.

The Duke of York at the junction of Powder Mill Lane and Hanworth Road transferred business from London Road in Twickenham in 1936 in the mistaken belief that future prosperity lay in this new district. It now (2022) awaits demolition.

The Winning Post is a fine art-deco roadside pub built to match the age of glitz and glamour. It became an important music venue in the 1970s and 80s and is still going strong.

Here's a link to a tour of Whitton's pubs made as a series of short films during lockdown by The Friends of Whitton Library.
 

The Duke of Cambridge c1900 making ready for a day's outing or 'charabanc' probably for local workers.  

The Admiral Nelson c1900, perhaps the Coronation of Edward VII in 1901 following the death of Queen Victoria, or the coronation of George V in 1911. 

An elevation plan of The Winning Post 1935

back to top