It is where the English serial killer John George Haigh, the "Acid Bath Murderer", met his first victim.

The area had become a regular east–west route when King William built Kensington Palace and The Goat was the first significant building on this new thoroughfare.

In 1707, the freehold was purchased by the local parish for £80, using funds from the legacies of two women who had left money for education and support of the poor.

[5] In 1944, the English serial killer John George Haigh, the "Acid Bath Murderer", had a chance meeting in the Goat with William McSwann, a wealthy owner of amusement arcades, for whom he had worked as a chauffeur in 1936, before spending time in prison for fraud.

[6] They met at The Goat again at about 6pm on 9 September, when they had some glasses of wine and a meal, after which Haigh enticed McSwann to his workshop nearby at 79 Gloucester Road[7] (now the basement of a branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken[1]), broke his skull with a pinball table leg, and dumped his body in a 40-gallon tub which he filled with sulphuric acid.