Viva Brighton October 2015 Issue #32

its and bobs
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Pub: the pond
Pat Murphy, the leaseholder
of The Pond, in Gloucester
Road, remembers the pub
from when he was a lad, living
in Over Street. “I used to
deliver milk there, in shorts,”
he remembers. “There was a
bottle and jug [off licence], a
lounge, and a public bar. Everyone
smoking their heads off.
The landlord used to play the
piano. He’s still alive now.”
Once he’d graduated into long
trousers, Pat went on to run a
number of bars, from the Zap
to the Richmond, and in 1989
he bought the lease for the
Pond, which had had a chequered
history since his boyhood
days. “It was an antique
shop for a bit,” he says. “Then
it was the place the casino
used to train their croupiers.
Finally, in the 70s, it became
the Lanchbury Club.” This establishment
went through several
incarnations, starting as an
upmarket restaurant-bar, then
becoming an afternoon drinking
bar (in the days when the
pubs shut between 2.30pm and
6pm), finally becoming a latenight
club, which closed down
in 1987, remaining empty for
many months, until a group of
squatters moved in. “I got the
lease in 1989,” Pat remembers,
“but I had to get a licence first.
They used to go round and inspect the places the day before the
hearing, so we washed it down with several litres of bleach. This lady
magistrate walked in the place, opened up her handbag and stuck a
great big handkerchief on her nose, and walked straight out again.
‘That doesn’t bode well,’ said my mate.” He got his licence second
time of asking, and gave the pub back its original name, though he’s
unsure why it was originally so titled, back in 1872, when it was
opened by Cannon Brewery. “It would have been fields around here
when it was built,” he says. “There must have been a pond around.”
The place is now a good old community boozer again, with the added
attraction of a Thai restaurant upstairs, which has been there for
15 years. The food comes highly recommended: you can also buy
it to take away, or eat it in the pub. If you pay a visit, don’t forget
to look up at the ceiling, where you’ll see scores of chamber pots,
which originally hung in the Green Dragon in Sydney Street, and
came Pat’s way after literally falling off the back of a lorry. Which is
another story… AL
Painting by Jay Collins
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