Certainly known as the Angel since 1815, when kept by the Hall family.
Eric Swift wrote of an inn on this site prior to this and there is a recording of an Angel in the Southgate in the 1726 Orders.
March 1840 John Higgingson a painter was convicted of an assault in the Angel, Higgins an habitual offender had frequently appeared on similar charges, this time he was fined 5/-
April 1842, saw a Murder by poison inquest case heard at the Angel. Two girls, Charlotte Barnacle, aged nineteen and Mary Barnes, fifteen, were accused of murder by poisoning Mary’s mother, Ann Barnes and also a lodger, Mary Waring, aged seventy. Charlotte Barnacle was also lodging with the Barnes’ in the same room as Mary Waring, sharing the same bed. The two girls were accused of putting arsenic in the tea kettle. First to drink the tea was Mary Waring, who was taken violently ill and shortly died. Ann Barnes also drank some tea and fell acutely sick, Ann’s husband called the surgeon who detected arsenic powder around the kettle. In a long case where the young girls protested their innocence they were sent to the Crown Court on a charge of murder and attempted murder.
In August 1842 both girls were in the packed courtroom charged with murder. In her defence, Charlotte Barnacle claimed the old women had fleas in the bed, so she obtained the poison to eradicate them. The Judge, Mr Justice Patterson, was convinced of their guilt however directing the jury to that end. The jury, however, decided that although the girls had put the arsenic in the kettle they couldn’t decide if they meant to murder or just make the victims sick, and found them guilty of manslaughter – much to the dismay of the judge. In sentencing he described them both of being depraved and committed them to be ‘transported beyond the seas for the term of life.’
The pair was then sent to the female Garland of Hope, moored on the Thames at Woolwich to await their deportation.
In the late 1950s, early 1960s, I remember the Angel when delivering to the then Bass or M&B house. It has the most mouth watering carvery on the bar – including hams, turkey, etc at lunch time. Together with the Standard in Charles Street and Durham Ox at Bowling Green Street (also Bass houses), they were twenty-thirty years before their time regarding pub food.
Barry Lount
The 1990s pub orders saw Bass having to sell off some of their estate, and the Angel was one that was transferred to Kimberly Brewery.
From here on in the pub suffered trade loss, eventually closing and being turned into flats. The signs still remained showing its former use outside as of 2016.
