Home > Essex > Chigwell > The Maypole The Maypole
	Picture source: Hania Franek
The Maypole was situated at 171 Lambourne Road.
This pub has now reopened.
Colin Price (September 2014)
Now closed again.
Phil Gaskin (October 2016)
Local newspaper review by John Cutting, 1967
Charles Dickens, in his famous novel ”Barnaby Rudge,” gave a full description of the King”s Head but, to suit the story, he moved the building to the site of the old Maypole at Chigwell Row. That inn has now been converted into two dwelling houses but the present Maypole was erected close by just over a hundred years ago. There is an aerial photograph in the saloon which shows clearly the relative positions of the old and new inns. An old painting reveals that, adjacent to the old inn, there was a pond. This was subsequently filled in, largely with broken bottles and glasses supplied by the brewers, and the space is, today, used by the buses as a turning-point. Although there is no evidence to show that a maypole was ever set up where the inn now stands, the area at the top of Gravel Lane could well have been a clearing in the midst of Hainault Forest. It was to such places that, in Tudor England, branches of trees and flowers were carried in triumph to celebrate May Day. In the centre of the procession was a high pole, painted with spiral stripes of different colours and decked with ribbons, around which the merrymakers would dance. Jim Tolson, now over eighty years old and a life-long resident of Chigwell Row, was once a forest ranger. He remembers when the forest was more extensive but, today, it is but a skeleton of its former glory and no longer can anyone walk across the fields to Chigwell, as Dickens described. The exterior of the Maypole looks undistinguished and the view is not improved by an ugly out-building. This was once a skittle alley but is now used as an additional bar during the summer months. Inside the Maypole, however, the atmosphere is warm and friendly and the saloon has all the charm and comforts associated with an old inn. Frank and Win Hobby have been in charge for the past nineteen years and have drawn around them a wide circle of friends. Frank has been connected with the trade much of his life, for his father was once tenant at the nearby Two Brewers. On the wall are a couple of pictures, surrounded by post horns, which convey vividly and rather nostalgically the spirit of the old English inn. A group of men, one in hunting pink, are seen deep in conversation and contentedly holding their churchwarden pipes. In the background the landlord appears to be listening, rather sceptically, to an angler who is proudly displaying his catch. The other scene depicts an old shepherd in smock who sits meditating quietly as though his thoughts still lie in the open fields. A younger man warms his ale over the fire in a beer muller watched placidly by a homely black cat. The bar counter is well designed and has a comfortable padded arm-rest while, above, a delightful wrought-iron trellis is both decorative and functional. The centre-piece is a representation of a maypole and the attached shelves support the glasses and tankards in accessible position. The whole display around the counter is indeed an attractive sight. On week-days, at lunch-time, tables are laid for meals in one part of the saloon. Various snacks are on the menu each day but Frank has, at present, no plans to enlarge this service. In the public bar there is a good darts board and the team compete in a local league, but the most popular pastime enjoyed by many regular customers is the old English game of dominoes. Thanks to its connection with Dickens, the Maypole is well known and members of the Dickensian Society regularly visit the inn. Both the British Legion and Chigwell Round Table hold meetings there and Frank, who is a past chairman of both the Essex Licence Holders Protection Society and the Epping L.V.A., is often host to his colleagues in the trade. Chigwell is apparently named after the number of wells in the district, and during some recent alterations no less than three shafts were discovered in the garden of the Maypole. The South Essex Waterworks have recently constructed what is possibly the largest well of all as part of their treatment works in Pudding-lane. The beer at the Maypole is excellent. It is kept in a large cellar which is maintained at the correct temperature by one of the numerous underground streams which honeycomb the area. It is probable that Charles Dickens drank at the old Maypole and he knew how to appreciate the value of good draught. In ”The Old Curiosity Shop” he wrote: ”Did you ever taste beer?” ”I had a sip of it once,” said the small servant. ”Here”s a state of things!” cried Mr. Swiveller. . . ”She never tasted it — it can”t be tasted in a sip!””
Brewers: Ind Coope (East Anglia) Ltd
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Other Photos
Picture source: Hania Franek
Date of photo: 2013	Picture source: Fergy Campbell
Date of photo: 2014	Picture source: Colin Price