The Castle (The Cricketers)
Built circa 1860
•Demolished 2017
This pub was originally opened as The Cricketers in about 1860 by John Hall. The landlord of the Cricketers changed every few years, perhaps indicating that no one found much commercial success there.
Known Landlords of The Cricketers
John Hall - c1860-c1865 William Stevens - occurs 1867 John Charles Holloway - occurs 1870/71 Thomas Thomas - ended 1873 Daniel Myers Spooner - started 1873 Thomas Goymer - occurs 1874 Arthur Burghes - occurs 1878 Arthur Burghes - occurs 1878 William John Martin - occurs 1882 Mark Sayers - occurs 1888
Known Landlords of The Castle
Edward Gross - 1890 George Abraham Fisher - 1891-1922 Emma Fisher - 1922-c1935 Percy James Keys - c1935-after 1939
In about 1890 the inn was renamed The Castle and taken over by the landlord of the Lion & Lamb. He only worked there for about a year and it was then taken over by George Fisher, who ran the pub successfully for over three decades until his death in 1922. His wife, Emma, ran the pub for more than 10 years after his death.
Behind the pub was a large barn that was used by a second hand furniture shop at number 34 Ongar Road for storage as well as as a garage for the shop's van - one of the first to be registered in Brentwood.
On the night of 21/10/1940 three high explosive bombs and a number of incendiary bombs fell very near the Castle. The building survived unscathed.
More recently it became a venue for live music and bands would regularly play there. It was closed in 2007 and converted to a night club, finally being pulled down in 2017 and replaced with a block of flats by Arcady Architects Ltd,.