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Picture source: Darkstar

The Mansion House was situated at 48 Kennington Park Road. This pub closed in 2006.

The Mansion House was so named because the street next to it, now Cottington Street was formerly Mansion House Street in 1899. In the 1949/50s there used to be an off licence door situated midway in the pub. The barrels were taken into the pub via a trapdoor at the front and many was the time as a child I watched the dray horses standing outside as the barrels were being loaded. My grandfathers and dad used to drink there and my best friend was the son of the publican.

Jeff Davis (Dec 2011)

This pub reopened in 2013.

Ian Chapman (March 2014)

My Dad ran this pub from the 1990s- till 2006 after whence it closed . it had major refurbishments from 2001-2003 . I remember after becoming strong again after survival of a near fatal car accident in 2002, helping doing little cleaning Jobs helping towards the reopening of the pub , after the refurbishment. my family already ran the Hermits cave (which they do to this day 2023) on camberwell church street where I'd done cleaning jobs on the weekend off school from the age of around 10 (i.was born in 1990). After the reopening of the Mansion House I now found myself cleaning two pubs on the weekend . Me and my dad (Brendan Gannon) would drive from Honor Oak where we lived early on a Saturday amd Sunday mornings to the Mansion House to do all the cleaning then drive down to Camberwell amd and open the hermits cave. The year would have been 2004 and by now my horrendous leg injuries from my car accident were fading amd my legs were becomming strong again. all the cleaning jobs, cellar tidying and help with deliveries helped my recovery from my car accident . when the mansion house reopened my dad wrote a new food menu which I always remeber as being the best british pub or restaurant menu I'd ever had the pleasure of trying. The lamb shanks (which were also served at the Hermits Cave on a Sunday as apart of the Sunday roast menu -£6.95) and roast dinners on a sunday especially stood out to me , they surely were the best roast dinners of my childhood . Sunday was the busiest day for food at the Mansion House well exceeding 100 roast Dinners most Sundays . people I'd known my entire life were frequents to the Mansion house and the Hermits Cave pub. People that used to go out with my family on Fireworks night and people that came round for Christmas dinners were all regulars . The Mansion house did and will always hold a special place in my heart . I learned alot of lessons and gained some experiences in the Mansion house at the age of 14 which would later help me become a bar man later down the line at the Hermits Cave . I remember the first drink or drinks I ever poured were indeed soft drinks from the Lemonade and coke taps. I later poured a few oints of larger under my father's guidance. I met alot of nice people who were employed by my father in the Mansion House both Women and Men of many different nationalities. a few names that come to mind are : Alberto, Dorotka, Angelika, Monika, Matthew, Jimmy and Monica. even though the pub was eventually closed down, I've never witnessed anyone put as much effort into any type of work as my dad did in those several years I've spoken above about a the Mansion House. At the age of 15 I broke onto the scene at the Hermits Cave as a weekend barman and continued their for about 3 years . I stopped at around the age of 18 , due to mental bbn health illnesses. These were the best years of my life 2004-2008.

Joseph Gannon (January 2023)

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Name	Dates	Comments
Jeff Davis	1953-1955	My only connection with this pub was via my friend John whose parents were the landlords. He was my best friend and I lost touch with him when I went into hospital for serious burns that I received in a house fire just along the road from the pub. I was Rooksdown Hospital, Basingstoke for two years.