Many thanks to Chin and his team at The Cricketers for letting us use their rear courtyard garden to gather in at the start of our walk and for providing complimentary sandwiches. The Cricketers are now open 2pm to late every day of the week. You can follow them on Instagram by searching for Cricketers Croydon.

The Cricketers stands on Addiscombe Road, which is first recorded on a map of 1594, as a lane connecting the town of Croydon with the hamlet of Addiscombe (where the Sandilands tram stop is today). By 1797, the land on which it stands was part of the Brickwood Estate. Click here for more information about its owner, John Brickwood https://eastcroydon.org.uk/east-croydons-connection-to-the-trans-atlantic-trade-in-enslaved-people/

After John Brickwood’s banking company went bankrupt in 1810, parts of this estate were sold and used for agriculture. Gradually, few houses were built along the lane between what are now Addiscombe Court Road and Canning Road. These were some of the earliest buildings in the ECCO area (after Brickwood House). In 1844, the site of The Cricketers was occupied by Rose Cottage which had a large garden at the rear.

The Queen Beerhouse occupied this cottage from 1851-55. An Act of Parliament of 1830 had allowed any rate-payer to brew and sell beer on payment of a licence costing two guineas  (£2.10 then, equivalent to £307 today). The intention was to increase competition between brewers – lowering prices and encouraging people to drink beer instead of strong spirits. 

The Queens Beerhouse obtained its full licence in 1867, adding a cricket ground at the rear in 1872. It changed its name to The Cricketers in 1874

Sources

• Croydon tithe map 1844
• Walker, Peter 1999 Croydon and its Pubs Volume 1 – a brief history.