The Camden Head is one of the oldest pubs in

Camden, London The London Borough of Camden () is a borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former metropolitan boroughs of Holborn, St Pancra ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

having been established in 1787. It is also a former music venue and hosts comedy events.

History

The Camden Head on Camden High Street is a public house and live venue which first opened towards the end of the 19th century, and has undergone several name changes: it was briefly known as "Liberties" for a period of a few years, before changing back to its former name, Camden Head, which is listed as a registered public house as far back as 1869 - run by then-publican George Soole. Nowadays, it is known for its local pub atmosphere and comedy venue, which has seen comedians such as

Alan Carr Alan Graham Carr (born 14 June 1976) is an English comedian, broadcaster, and writer. His breakthrough was in 2001, winning the '' City Life'' Best Newcomer of the Year and the BBC New Comedy Awards. In the ensuing years, Carr's career burgeo ...

Stephen Merchant Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, writer, director, and actor. He was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office (British TV series), The Office'' (2001–2003), and co-writer ...

, Lee Kern and

Bob Mortimer Robert Renwick Mortimer (born 23 May 1959) is an English comedian, author, television presenter, writer and actor. He is one half of the comedy double act Reeves and Mortimer with Jim Moir, Vic Reeves, and appears in the ''Mortimer & Whitehouse ...

perform. It is not to be confused with The Camden Head in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, which is situated on Camden Passage.

Architecture

The Camden Head's architecture has changed little since its establishment in the 19th century, and testament to that exists in the form of a photo, dated 1903, which shows the building's appearance and similarity to that of the modern-day building. A copy of this photo can be found hanging in The Camden Head pub itself, and is archived at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre Catalogue

Notable events

The Camden Head was an official venue of the yearly festival

Camden Crawl Camden Crawl was a music festival in London Borough of Camden, Camden, London, which first appeared in 1995 and then was held annually from 2005 to 2014. Overview Rather than a single venue, Camden Crawl operated at multiple venues simultaneous ...

. It is a regular venue in the annual

Camden Fringe The Camden Fringe is an arts festival in London, taking place over four weeks in the summer as an alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe. The first Camden Fringe took place in 2006 at the Etcetera Theatre. In 2017, the Camden Fringe sold 30,000 tic ...

where, in 2011, Richard Tyrone Jones performed. Synthpop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, originally from Camden, shot their video for Dance The Way I Feel upstairs in the Camden Head.

Camden Comedy Club

In September 2014, the pub relaunched its upstairs venue as Camden Comedy Club.

References

External links