The Goat Public House

The Goat was never one of my favourite haunts but it is a good landmark. I can remember walking along the towpath of The Wandle to the last remaining tannery. The smell at times was unbelievable. It looks as though that is all built on now, I hope they managed to get rid of the smells.

My dad had a shellfish stall outside The Goat in the fifties. He also used to push a barrow round the estate on Sunday mornings selling shellfish. The Goat was a great pub in those days - real people, never any trouble.

I used to work in"The Goat" for T.J. and Christine in the early eighties, while I was a student nurse in St. Helier Hospital. Happy Daze. I remember the fishstall well.The owner was a big friendly man with a Rolls Royce. His name was Ron Sparrowhawk.

I remember the seafood stall at The Goat and also the Sunday street sales of shrimps and winkles with the cry....'Shrimp..Winkaaaal.' The really nice man who was ready with a quip. The Goat was a meeting place long before I was old enough to drink beer. If we kids or youths were planning to cross the common to go to the fair, or fancied taking our airguns to the disused turrets on the opposite side of the road to the pub, we would collect there, as we might also do when Barbour's fire was about to be lit on November 5th. I didn't drink in there much when I grew older but before I moved down to Devon three years ago, I just had to make a last visit and sit outside thinking about how things had changed since I was a kid.

The Goat I remember it well.My job on a Sunday was to get the shrimps and winkles for tea. I also did a paper  round from the shop on the corner on the other side of Mill Green,past the swings and pool. Was an engineering firm, next door were two bungalows which were my grans. I would like to know what happened to the Queens Head and the general store.

Don't know if it was your Dad Dave Mabbutt. but I've had a few plates of cockles at the Goat. My Dad and his Brother used to go there from time to time. If I was lucky when the crisps came out I'd get a plate, sometimes whelks. I think they went there because when they were kids they lived in a Green grocers shop in Woleseley Road on the other side of Mill Green. Never understood why they never used the Queen.

I was born in Buckhurst Avenue, Carshalton, left there at 10 years old in 1953 and have lived in Devon for the last 57 years. But I remember waiting outside the Goat while my mum, dad and aunt went in for a quick drink. I also remember us buying shrimps and winkles when the cart came down our road. Good memories!

I went to school in Mitcham even tho' I lived in Raynes Park.I am watching a TV program about Ska,Specials,Madness etc and it reminded me of my first experience of a "gig" .It was in the Goat and I remember that it was so crowded and hot that I used to lean against the walls to cool down as their were so many people that the walls ran with condensation.this would be about 1969ish.

My dad Eddie Newcomb lived on Golden Terrace and his best mate Charlie Barber had his lorry yard next door. Many memories of those days in the 1960's.

I was born in Middleton Road in 1952 as part of the wonderful Pointing family. Childhood memories of sitting on a stool with some cousins, a packet of crisps and a bottle of Vimpto. 

My  dad ,Sammy , ran the whelk stall outside of the goat for a 

couple of years from1950 onwards,( l was about I4yrs old)

He moved the whelk stall to the Skinner's arms.