OLD KENT ROAD

 

      
The Old Kent Road’s most famous pub, the Thomas A Becket, is no more. But I have a very tasty Vietnamese lunch at its latest incarnation, Viet Quan. The Thomas A Becket sign remains – a reproduction of a stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral, as does a reminder of its boxing links - a plaque honouring Sir Henry Cooper (1934-2011). ‘Our ‘Enry’ was a national treasure, having famously put Muhammad Ali on the canvas in 1963 before his gossamer-thin eyebrows split. Not pretty, even in monochrome.

       He is the only boxer to be knighted. I had the pleasure of meeting him once in the early 80’s – appropriately on Boxing Day; lovely man.




    David Bowie rehearsed in a room above the pub in the 1970s.

The St Thomas a Watering, where Canterbury Pilgrims halted, once stood on this site.

Most of the other historic pubs in the Old Kent Road have gone the way of the Thomas A Beckett, including the Dun Cow and the Duke of Kent ….

                     ….. now a surgery ....... and a mosque.

    My visit to Viet Quan was pre-meditated. But I wasn’t expecting this ….


   

    ‘Stompie’, a T-34 Tank, has been sitting just off the Old Kent Road in Mandela Way since 1995. The Czech tank, which was used during the filming of the movie Richard III, is thought to have been in action during the Prague Spring in 1968. Having been denied planning permission to build on the empty plot, property developer Russell Gray bought the tank and pointed its gun towards Southwark Council’s planning offices in an act of defiance. Steps were taken to remove Stompie but Gray had actually obtained permission from the city council. They had assumed they were approving an application for a septic tank. In recent years Stompie has had a whole host of makeovers.




    The Old Kent Road is one of Britain’s oldest and was a route for pilgrims as portrayed in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The only pilgrims today are tank enthusiasts – and a smattering of ultimately disappointed septic tank enthusiasts.

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