Pub theatres are a British institution

Which is the oldest pub theatre in London? The King’s Head in Islington claims that its American founder, Dan Crawford, established the trend back in 1970. But a rival venue, Pentameters, above the Horseshoe in Hampstead, maintains that its proprietor, Leonie Scott-Matthews, set it up as a fringe theatre in August 1968. The dispute rumbles on.

Pubs are peculiar to British culture, and their conversion into theatres owes something to the quirks of architecture. Most have a small room on the first floor which is slightly inaccessible from the downstairs drinking area, and it’s hard to tempt boozers to climb a narrow flight of stairs and sup their pints in a cramped space that feels a bit like an attic. But these dank little rooms are ideal for theatre.

Many pub theatres are effectively polytechnics that offer drama school graduates a chance to learn the trade from the ground up. A pub is an ideal starting point because the shows tend to have a small cast, a simple set and few technical complexities. And everyone does a bit of everything. The usher who tears off the tickets may also be the artistic director. If the lighting technician gets hit by a bus en route to the dress-rehearsal, there’ll be enough collective wisdom in the building to get a substitute trained before the opening night.

What pub theatres encourage, in other words, is a spirit of experimentation. And this can pay handsome dividends when a show transfers to the West End. The Play That Goes Wrong began life at the 60-seat Old Red Lion in Islington in 2012. Michael Kingsbury’s production of Maggie & Ted (a historical comedy about the Conservative party leadership) migrated from the White Bear in Kennington to the Garrick last June.