THE RICHMAL CROMPTON

THE RICHMAL CROMPTON - A LITERARY LONDON PUB

This Wetherspoon?pub?opened in 1999. It sits in a 1990s development that contains restaurants, bars, and an insurance company’s (Direct Line’s) headquarters.

Today, I took the train to?Bromley South to meet up with Nicky & Roy at the pub. The building is made of grey metal panelling with green tinted windows but it is hidden behind a red brick wall. On entering, the first thing I notice is the typical Wetherspoon fixtures and fittings.

More unusual: In front of the bar is a bank of five gaming machines plus three more around a support column; I presume a good revenue stream.

But the best treat is the toilets. In the Men’s there is a circle of nine urinals surrounded by small square tiles (in various shades of blue). Roy said that he: ‘Loves this unusual feature’. Nicky then showed us, using a photo on her phone, that in the Ladies there are six sinks in a circle with the same pattern of small blue tiles. Also, in the Ladies there is a large ornamental goldfish on the wall.

The other thing to mention is the Ruddles at 99p a pint. Yes, you read that right. This offer is available until 28 February 2022.

The pub is named after Richmal Crompton, the author of the Just William books. Richmal lived in Bromley for 26 years, in Cherry Orchard Road and then Oakley Road. She was a teacher at Bromley High School for Girls. Richmal Crompton died in?Bromley in 1969. There is text and pictures about her and ‘Just William’ on the pub’s wall.

On this trip to Bromley, I visited H.G. Wells’s birthplace at?Atlas House?(now a Primark), 46 Bromley High Street, a ten minute walk from the pub. But H.G. Wells didn't like Bromley; he called it a: ‘morbid sprawl of population’. Opposite, in market square, is a mural to Charles Darwin (her lived in Down House, Bromley ), behind the Bromley Town Pump. Other notable writers who came from Bromley include: Hanif Kureishi, David Nobbs and Talbot Rothwell.

The Richmal Crompton, 23 Westmoreland Place, Bromley BR1 1DS

If you liked this article,?there are other London literary pubs listed here.