The London Pleasure Gardens of the Eighteenth Century

The Assembly House, Kentish Town

The Assembly House was in existence in 1725133 or earlier, and consisted of a large inn, partly built of wood, with a Long Room on the south, entered from outside by a covered staircase. This room for many years continued to be used for dancing by the élite of the neighbourhood.

By about 1776 the village of Kentish Town had become a somewhat populous place, and in the summer-time was much resorted to by Londoners, who took lodgings there, or made brief excursions thither. In 1788 the Assembly House was taken by a Mr. Thomas Wood, who specially advertised his trap-ball and skittle-ground, pleasant summer-house, and extensive garden.

The house was pulled down in 1853, and its site and that of the garden covered by houses. The Assembly House tavern (No. 298 Kentish Town Road) and a police station have been built on the baiting ground and yard that were formerly in front of the old house.

[Miller’s St. Pancras, p. 294, ff.; Roffe’s St. Pancras, pp. 10, 11; Walford, v. p. 320; Palmer’s St. Pancras, p. 62, ff.]

Views

1. “The Assembly Rooms, Kentish Town, 1750,” Walford, v. p. 313.

2. “The Old Assembly House, Kentish Town,” May 1853; drawn and etched by W. B. Rye, Etchings, London, 1857.