The Gatehouse, Highgate

Looking for a bit of ‘fringe’ entertainment the other weekend, we happened across a venue called ‘Upstairs at The Gatehouse’ in Highgate village. An imposing three-storey building on the corner of Hampstead Lane (I passed it countless times in my childhood en route to see my grandad in nearby Parliament Hill), it looks pretty much like any other mock-Tudor pub you might see in London. But I had a hunch there might be an interesting history attached to the place, so decided to research a bit further. My curiosity was amply repaid!

The Gatehouse in 2020

The Gatehouse is probably the oldest inn in Highgate. There is thought to have been a pub here since the mid-14^th century, but as licensing of premises was not introduced until 1552 this cannot be proved. The earliest mention of it dates to 1670 when an Edward Cutler made a licence application to the borough of St Pancras.

The mock-Tudor building we see today dates from 1905.

The pub gets its name from its original location next to a toll-gate where tolls were collected from people heading out of London on the Great North Road through the ‘Bishop of London’s Park of Haringey’ (there were actually three entrances to the park, each with its own tollgate, the best-known is probably The Spaniards up the road).  The arch through which stagecoaches used to pass, is now long since demolished.

Highgate school 1840 with Gatehouse and arch to the left

Boundary marker

An interesting fact about The Gatehouse is that the boundary between Middlesex and London once ran through the building. When the hall was used as a courtroom, a rope divided the sessions to ensure that prisoners did not escape from the jurisdiction of one authority to another. The boundary problem existed for many years, most recently with Camden and Haringey sharing the building!  In 1993 the border was eventually moved a few feet to allow one authority overall control and The Gatehouse is now the most northerly pub in Camden.

Over the years the pub was also used as a meeting-house. The Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution held its inaugural meeting there in January 1839.

And it has had some illustrious clientele – Dick Turpin, Byron and Dickens are all known to have used its services.

The pub before 1905 remodelling

In Victorian times (photo left) the pub was famous all over London for its huge lunches, known as “shilling ordinaries”. 

Upstairs at The Gatehouse theatre

The auditorium that now houses the theatre  opened in 1895, when it was known as ‘Highgate Hall’. It was used variously as a music hall, cinema, masonic lodge and amateur dramatics venue. 

In the sixties, a jazz and folk club based there featured performances by none other than the great Paul Simon. Ovation Theatres acquired the lease on it in 1997 and set up ‘Upstairs at The Gatehouse’. These days, the theatre cheekily bills itself as “London’s Top Theatre”…. by virtue of its position 446 feet above sea-level!

References:

Website: https://www.upstairsatthegatehouse.com/whats-on

Website: https://hidden-highgate.org/ye-olde-gatehouse/