It has been threatened by redevelopment but its popularity as a meeting place and great live music venue have caused it to be recognised as an asset of community value.

There has been a public house here since the 19th century and, after Charles Dickens lodged in the street, he subsequently referred to it in The Pickwick Papers.

[5] It was the local pub Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman used to hang out at the beginning of their career.

[7] In 2015, the pub was threatened by demolition and redevelopment as a 10-storey block of flats but the planning application was refused after a campaign by the Walworth Society to save it.

[1][6][8] The pub was inactive and boarded up for a period (between November 2016 and April 2017) after the building's owner demanded a rent hike of £30k, causing the previous management to close the business.