The Beehive Pub Circa Early 70s

A Memory of Lambourne End.

Am I right in remembering this pub had sawdust on the floor? The posts outside seemed to be designed for riders to tie horses to. There was only one bar and it was a big one. It was a bit like a wild west bar (or am I being too romantic?) and was a little out of the way. It was the only pub I knew where you could buy chocolates and chocolate bars as well as the usual drinks, peanuts and crisps which was great as it was the early 1970s. The bar had a great atmosphere on a warm summer's night and attracted an interesting set of people.

Later on in the 80s it was modernised, extended to the back and turned into a Gastro pub called the Camelot. There was a trend at the time to ruin nice old pub interiors with shabby tat. I went there once to celebrate someone's birthday and was appalled at the pointless mock medieval transformation of what had been a lovely pub.

Hainault Forest was immediately opposite the pub which stood at the side of a T junction between Hoe Lane coming up from Abridge (seen on the right of the photo) and the road that ran from Lambourne End to Chigwell Row. The road to Abridge was (and may still be) very narrow and winding. One of the village mechanics managed to overturn his Volkswagen Beetle on this road, no doubt whilst returning home from the pub. It was often necessary to back up if you met a car coming the other way because at one point going down the hill there was just not enough room for two vehicles to pass each other.