The Ivy House

The Ivy House is a 150-capacity concert pub in Nunhead, London, with a curtained stage in its rear hall and a Grade II-listed 1930s interior. Its distinguishing fact sits behind the bar: local campaigners bought the freehold in 2013, making it London’s first community-owned pub. For a gig-goer, that translates to a show room embedded in a working pub, where original timber, tiled bar details and separate rooms shape the evening.

A pub saved for its stage

The site began as the Newlands Tavern, a beer house recorded in an 1865 directory under Thomas Dickason. Truman’s rebuilt it in 1937–38 to designs by brewery architect A. E. Sewell; the new pub opened on 4 October 1938 with a social hall seating 150. That hall later became part of South London’s mid-1970s pub-rock circuit, hosting early appearances by performers including Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, Joe Strummer and Dr Feelgood. In April 2012, Enterprise Inns moved toward closure and a developer sale as campaigners pursued protected status for the interior. Grade II listing arrived on 20 April. After an 11-month campaign, Ivy House Community Pub Limited bought the freehold for £810,000 on 15 March 2013; a community share offer then drew £142,600 from 371 shareholders. The pub relaunched during the August 2013 bank-holiday weekend.

The hall behind the pub

Today’s music offer centres on indie, rock and jazz within a wider programme of live and community events. The layout gives gigs a clear split from the front pub: double doors lead to the Hall, with its own original bar counter and a stage in the corner. Three distinct rooms survive, while the rear refreshment room brings wood panelling, coloured glass, decorative plasterwork and an inglenook fireplace into the same building. Expect a pub setting with a purpose-built social-hall scale, plus sightlines oriented toward the low corner stage.