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, inc...