ES Views Letter of the Day: Cheers to Islington pub theatre’s future

Have your say Twitter: @esviews Email: esviews@standard.co.uk
1991 campaign: actors Anita Dobson, Denis Lawson, Maureen Lipman and Sheila Gish
7 August 2017
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Your report of a new home and secure future for the King’s Head Theatre is to be welcomed [August 2].

Back in 1990, my first London job was as press officer for Greater London Arts and my very first PR battle was to justify the decision to cut the Islington theatre’s annual grant funding.

That 1991 campaign to “save the King’s Head” was brilliantly waged by the late Dan Crawford, supported by luminaries like Maureen Lipman and Tom Conti. Unsurprisingly, the decision was reversed and the grant funding reinstated.

I personally wasn’t disappointed by the U-turn given the contribution pub theatre has made to London’s cultural life and I subsequently had the pleasure of directing a show at the King’s Head, which famously charged customers in old currency of shillings and pence.

So I for one will be donating to the fundraising to secure its future in its new home — even it does mean one less pub theatre in London.
Robert Gordon Clark

Join the conversation: #esnewsviews

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in