The Half Moon is a Grade II* listed public house at 10 Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill, London. It is one of only 270 pubs on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, was frequented by the poet and writer Dylan Thomas, and was a noteworthy live music venue for nearly 50 years, hosting three gigs by U2 in 1980. In 2015, The Half Moon Public House was listed by Southwark Council as an Asset of Community Value, and is described by Nikolaus Pevsner as, "a cheerful corner pub of 1896".
History An inn has stood on the site at the west end of Half Moon Lane, nearest Herne Hill, since the middle of the 17th century, but the first public house "known by the Sign of the Half Moon" was built by Joseph Miller in 1760.
A letter to the Editor of the Monthly Magazine in March 1808, records the death of a boy chimney sweep at the Half Moon on 12 February of that same year, having been taken in suffering from fatigue and cold on "Dulwich Lane", after a great quantity of snow fell.
In 1844, Edward Alleyn's original tombstone, removed many years before from the College of God's Gift Chapel, was 're-discovered' in the skittle ground of the Half Moon, where it was believed to be serving as a cover or break-water for a parish sewer. It is said that the tombstone had "doubtless proved advantageous to the landlord in drawing visitors to his house." One contemporary source states that "Mr. Webb, of the Half Moon Inn, Dulwich, presented the college with the original gravestone of Edward Alleyn, which for many years had been preserved by himself and father in the tea gardens at the rear of the inn."
John Webb is shown to be the tenant of the Half Moon Public House, stable and paddock for 22 years from 1824. John Webb of the Half Moon Public House, Dulwich is also shown in Old Bailey records from 1833, providing a reference of good character for a prisoner named William Patten, aged 22, who was found guilty of stealing 2 live pigs and sentenced to be "Transported for Seven Years".
The Census return for 1851 shows that Mr. Webb the proprietor of the Half Moon employed five staff. In 1853, William John Webb, is shown as giving evidence in the Old Bailey in the case of Daniel Allen, aged 32, feloniously uttering a forged ten shilling Bank of England note, with intent to defraud. He states in his evidence, "I keep the Half-moon, at Dulwich. On Sunday, 7th Nov., between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I was in my bar; the prisoner came in and asked me if I could change a 10/. note for Mrs. Goulding—I told him I could—he had a glass of ale and a cigar, and then left—I paid the note into the Excise-office next day (Monday), and on the following Saturday it was returned to me stamped "Forged"—I had not known the prisoner before—this was on a Sunday—people dress differently on a Sunday in my neighbourhood." The prisoner was found guilty and "Transported for Ten Years".
The Half Moon is recorded as being up for sale in April 1868, where it is described as having been in the hands of the Webb family for, "the best part of a century". The pub at this time is said to have four rooms on the top floor; assembly room and six other rooms on the first floor; bar and six rooms on the ground floor, and large tea garden. It is said to be held from Dulwich College for twenty-eight years unexpired, at £95 per annum, and £1 in lieu of land tax. A range of stabling is also underlet at £32 per annum.
In 1878, the area of Dulwich is described as being "a favourite resort for the working men of London, for the purpose of holding their annual gatherings at one or other of its taverns, the chief of which are the "Greyhound," the "Half Moon," and the "Crown."" At this time, the Half Moon was particularly noted for its flower garden, lawns and tea gardens. A newspaper report in April of the same year, records the story of a smartly dressed gentleman asking the stableman at the Half Moon to clean his shoes, and the stableman receiving the princely payment of a half sovereign in return. While cleaning the shoes, the gentleman told the stableman that he had just lost £1,800 on the Grand National, and was later seen in the act of committing suicide on the track near Herne Hill railway station.
19th century English author, poet and artist John Ruskin refers to walking "between the hostelry of the Half-moon at the bottom of Herne Hill, and the secluded college of Dulwich". Stanfords' 1864 map shows a tributary of the River Effra flowing north towards Half Moon Lane and running along it, past the Half Moon pub, to Herne Hill. Before the river was covered over in this area in 19th century, John Ruskin describes this tributary as a "tadpole-haunted ditch". During this period, the Half Moon Tavern was accessed by crossing a bridge over the Effra, which appears in an early sketch from 1810.
The rural nature of the Half Moon's environs in the early part of the 19th century, is demonstrated by the fact that in 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, army manoeuvres took place in Dulwich, with troops stationed on the village green in Half Moon Lane and at the cross roads by the Half Moon Public House. The Half Moon is also mentioned as being the location of a strategic "line of defence" in William Le Queux's fictional account of an invasion led by France and Russia, The Great War in England in 1897, published in 1895.
Between 1894 and 1896, the old Half Moon was rebuilt as a hotel by architect James William Brooker in Jacobethan Revival style. Brooker lived locally in East Dulwich. The size of the new hotel and richness of its fittings is partly explained by its location near the terminus of one of the horse-drawn omnibus services into London. The demolition of the former Half Moon Tavern by its owners The Dulwich Estate was clearly not universally popular at the time, with a subsequent poem appearing in Punch entitled "The Doom of Dulwich", including the lines, "Alas for the famous old inns! Ah! progress is all very well, But one of its shockingest sins, Is ringing antiquity's knell. The "Crown" and the "Half Moon" are gone, And now they the Greyhound attack." Writing in May 1896, Alfred Allison, describes the new development, "The picturesque old Half Moon at Herne Hill, with its low ceilings and quaint gables, was recently given over to the wreckers. Not a brick or a plank remains. In its place has grown up a gigantic modern structure quite in keeping with the new surroundings."
In August 1898, the International Brewers' Journal reported that the new owner of the Half Moon, Thomas Cason, appeared in court claiming that he was induced by misrepresentation as to the takings of the public house when entering into a contract of purchase to buy it for the agreed sum of £64,000 in 1897. After appointing a manager, Mr. Davis, of considerable experience, he stated that he found that he could not take anything like the figures that had been represented to him. The jury without retiring returned a verdict for the defendant, Mr. Wm. Arthur Hine, who gave evidence that the plaintiff had nearly given up the cheap dinners to workmen, had changed the staff, and removed a Freemasons' Lodge from the house. Judgment was entered accordingly with costs.
In December 1899, social reformer Charles Booth noted that the Half Moon pub had sold "a year or so ago" for £64,000. This was a huge sum considering that houses in neighbouring Stradella Road cost less than £1,000 at this time. He adds that "Jones does not think it can pay". The 'Jones' referred to is undoubtedly the local Police Constable Jones, with whom Booth went walking the area. Booth describes the Half Moon pub in his 1899 notes as "an elaborate, florid, large, newly decorated public house".
In September 1907, a barman named Joseph Kemp, going upstairs to his bedroom at the Half Moon Public House, fell over the banisters, and died from his injuries a few seconds after being picked up. In 1908, Edith Smith, barmaid at the Half Moon Hotel, Herne Hill, gives evidence at the Old Bailey in a case of counterfeit coinage stating, "The "Half Moon" is a large house and was rebuilt some years ago. There are six bars ... the front bar, or public bar ... is quite open and there are no screens round it." She states that the pub is never busy in the afternoon, that she usually serves in the saloon bar, and that "a glass of ale and a screw of tobacco" costs two pence. The pub at this time is also described as having a cash register.
In 1921, Brixton Chess Club began convening in the Half Moon, and the club marked the change of venue by inviting the famous Russian chess player Eugene Znosko-Borovsky to give a simultaneous exhibition (simul) there on Thursday 21 April.
In June 1930, police from all the surrounding stations were rushed by motor tenders to the Half Moon Hotel to help quell a disturbance involving 500 fighting Irishmen. The resulting police action involved baton charges, and seven arrests were made. The incident took place on Whit Monday, and involved fighting between rival supporters of Dublin and Cork hurling teams, who played each other at Herne Hill Velodrome. In the subsequent court case, Lambeth magistrates heard evidence from Detective-Sergeant Moyer, who said that when he arrived on the scene he saw a small body of police with their backs to the wall and truncheons drawn, surrounded by a mob of 500 hooligans. Tumblers were used as missiles, it was stated, and 200 glasses were broken.
On 4 March 1935, shortly after shortly after the discovery of a burglary at the Half Moon Hotel, the landlord, William Nye Songhurst, died suddenly from shock. He was aged 47 years, and is reported to have suffered with a bad heart.
The Historic England listing for the Half Moon Public House states that, "The proliferation of ornament across the surface of this building gives the whole a sense of vital unity through their sheer number." The Half Moon is also listed by CAMRA as, "A pub with a nationally important historic interior." Only 270 pubs meet CAMRA's exacting criteria and the Half Moon is one of them. The snug bar (referred to as a "Billiard Room" in CAMRA's 1988 South East London Pub Guide) contains six back-painted mirrors depicting birds and signed by the renowned 'W. Gibbs & Sons glass decorators' of Blackfriars. The pub is also noteworthy for the rare survival of joinery and associated fabric at the public bar. The large, uncompartmented public bar at the Half Moon is a typical feature of pubs built during the 1890s pub boom. Photos of the pub from the first part of the 20th century, show it to be operated by the Southwark-based brewery Barclay Perkins & Co.
The original entrance to the 'Hotel', is indicated by a portico, supported by columns, jutting out from the right-hand side of the pub. The Victorian mosaic tilework at this entrance mark out the words "The Half Moon Hotel". The rear of the Half Moon comprises both an original element forming a billiards room, and a later addition constructed during the 1930s to convert this area into a snooker room. These two activities are still advertised in the stained glasswork on the outside of the pub.
The poet and writer Dylan Thomas lived locally on Milkwood Road and used to drink at The Half Moon. Writer A.F. Churchward-Tinsley, writing in a Welsh magazine in 1959, first drew the connection between Dylan Thomas and the Half Moon. He interviewed Dylan's friend, sculptor and London Welsh rugby player, Evan Samuel, who recounts how, "Dylan used to come to watch the London Welsh games, and when, after the match, the teams would gather, as rugger clubs do, for a few pints at the old Half Moon Hotel at Herne Hill, Dylan would be there adding lustre to the gathering. He was a great conversationalist".