The area in and around Walthamstow Central has changed a lot in recent years, with new road layouts and buildings, and new development proposals are looking to irrecoverably transform this corner of Walthamstow forever. Fortunately, some buildings survive and provide a welcome link with the past, especially when they have retained the same function. One of these is The Goose, on the corner of Hoe Street and Selbourne Road, a familiar local pub for well over 100 years.
It opened as the Tower Hotel in 1883, in a prime location, opposite Hoe Street Station (now Walthamstow Central). Despite local opposition preferring a temperance establishment, a full license was granted on the condition that it also functioned as a hotel.
The lease was acquired by Warwickshire-born Joseph Day, whose family ran The Ferry Boat on Ferry Lane. By 1891 Joseph was living at the Tower with his wife Ann, their children Joseph and Catherine, their elderly widowed housekeeper Martha, and three young unmarried staff, Alice, Elizabeth and Maria.
A postcard of the Tower Hotel from c1902
As well as being a licensee, Joseph was also a church warden at St Mary’s church, and ran a successful property and building business, lucrative enough to enable the family to move to the grand Thorpe Combe House on Forest Road by 1901 (now part of Thorpe Combe Hospital). Joseph remained licensee of the Tower Hotel however, and employed live-in managers; members of the Day family were licensees into the 1930s, the last being Roland Day in 1935.
The Tower Hotel was more than just a pub and hotel, and was also used for local land and property auctions in the later 19th century, when land plots were sold in crowded sale rooms, including the Belmont Park Estate, Leyton in 1894. Functions including smoking and musical concerts and dinners were also popular, especially events held by local businesses. Unsurprisingly it was often the preferred venue for railway staff related events, and retirement and long-service presentations were made during smoking concerts and dinners.
The Tower pictured in 1972
By the 1930s the Tower Hotel was no longer a hotel, although functions were still held, and local groups and societies regularly met here, including the Tower Folk Club in the 1960s and early 1970s. Its main use, however, remained as a public house that evolved into a traditional local pub with darts, a pool table, bar food and a beer garden.
Another view of the building in the 1970s
In the 1970s it was renamed Flanagans Tower, with bed and breakfast accommodation above; soon after it became Flanagans, and guest accommodation again ceased. It was during this period that a large concrete head was installed on the Hoe Street side, and the pub became known for daytime strippers and live-screening of sports events. It was renovated in 1994 as The Goose and Granite, and is now The Goose.
Karen Averby is a seaside-loving historian and research consultant specialising in researching histories and stories of buildings, people and places. She researches house histories for private clients and collaborates in community heritage projects (karenaverby.co.uk). She is also director of Archangel Heritage Ltd, an historical research consultancy providing research services for the commercial heritage sector (archangelheritage.co.uk). Also found on Twitter @karenaverby and @archaheritage
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