Preserving our heritage at The Woolwich Equitable

BY BILL LACY

“Traditional” boozers are mentioned most often in discussions about the survival and flourishing of pubs.

It seems a bigger shame, somehow, when an established venue closes for good.

Woolwich is a graveyard of pubs , with a few ghostly remains. You can tell what shops were old pubs; for years afterwards you could still see the sign above the old Woolwich Infant, named after a great artillery gun made at the Royal Arsenal, now reduced to a chicken shop.

I walk past an arcade in Powis Street and I can see that it used to be a pub, The Shakespeare, where my parents met.

But sometimes this nostalgia blurs over the fact that some old pubs were downright bad.

A few years ago in a Woolwich pub, a notorious place, a drunk man came out of nowhere and told me that I smelt like the River Thames.

So, my nostalgia for traditional pubs in this area of South-east London is somewhat tempered by more accurate memories, and an appreciation of new pubs which I don’t immediately relegate as incomparable with the pubs back in the “good old days”.

The Equitable is a newish pub but I have nostalgic memories for this too as it used to be the Woolwich Building Society.

I remember my friend’s mum worked there. Now it is a grand pub that faithfully respects the architecture of the building, with the gallery above the bar the showpiece.

This is an Antic pub and they have restrained their impulse to clutter up the place with random objects.

There are a couple of newish pubs the other side of the gated divide of the old Woolwich Arsenal but this is the most prominent recent opening in the centre of Woolwich itself, unless one counts the reopening of the Wetherspoons that was burnt down during the 2011 riots.

The Equitable’s open space is immediately impressive, but the soft furnishings provide for an intimate experience as well.

Banks, like theatres but unlike churches, make great venues for conversion into pubs.

A long bar bestrides the back of the room, containing a great range of drinks, particularly on keg.

I ordered a pint of Siren’s Soundwave IPA and chatted with an enthusiastic barman about the history of the place.

I brushed away the possibly phantom memory of my friend’s mum signing cheques in the areas where the bar now is.

This excellent addition to Woolwich is full of character and, next to Woolwich Arsenal station, is superbly situated.

We should care about preserving our heritage, faced with Covid and longer-term challenges, but celebrate the arrival of good new pubs like The Equitable as well.

Now, only a few weeks to go until we can have a drink!

General Gordon Place, Woolwich SE18 6AB