At their best, pubs are a theatre of humanity, a stage where people can feel a little freer to express themselves, away from the pressures of everyday life. Such a pub was the Kent Arms on Albert Road in North Woolwich, the setting for a new drama by publican, writer and drag queen Jonny Wooster.

Demolished in the mid-1970s, the Kent Arms was a famous venue in the early 1960s. In the days before certain sexual practices were decriminalised, it was a ‘safe space’ for gay merchant seamen from the nearby Royal Docks, who mingled with local transvestites, drag queens and anyone, really, who enjoyed a taste of liberation and excess.

That included the monarch’s late sister Princess Margaret who, according to one dock worker, ventured there to experience a ‘bit of rough’.

“It was a wild pub, all noise and flashing lights,” says Jonny. “It had a kind of annex full of sailors, dock workers, drag queens and gay mods, all dancing. It was a space outside the law.

“We have the notion today of a safe space, but this was also a dangerous space. These guys were tough and could use their fists to put a stop to any abuse. You get the impression it was an area that looked after its own business.

“It’s a forgotten history where there seemed to be gays everywhere – and they weren’t getting beaten up!”

Jonny is co-owner of drag venue The Glory in Haggerston. When it was forced to close last March he turned to an idea for a play based on Hubert Selby’s novel Last Exit to Brooklyn.

In the course of researching a possible location in docklands he met Stuart Feather, a member of the 1970s radical drag theatre group Bloolips and a regular at the Kent Arms.

“He gave me such an exciting description of what it was like that it overtook my research. I realised I’d found an amazing place that’s not mentioned in queer history.”

With funding from the Royal Docks, and help from community engagement coordinator Emma Crace, Jonny has so far tracked down and interviewed 18 people who remember the Kent Arms. Based on them, he has filmed six character monologues that he is now working up into a play, titled Silvertown.

He hopes to bring it to stage before the end of the year, recreating the Kent Arms at a site in the area.

“The big storyline of the play is fictitious – four straight couples walk into a gay bar and all hell breaks loose,” Jonny explains. “But all the details will be taken from memories. I want to bring to life an exciting environment with some great characters.”

Places like the Kent Arms, and his own pub, The Glory, provide important spaces for LGBT+ people, he believes.

“I have my own memories of finding my identity in pubs. Without them, in lockdown, the community is isolated. But we’ll bounce back…”

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