The Crown and Anchor was a “grotty” 1960s estate style pub in Ladywell. It had little to recommend it and was demolished in 2006. But it was an old haunt of the infamous Richardson gang, writes Dinsdale.
The recent death of Eddie Richardson at the age of 90, brings to an end an era few of the more recent residents of Ladywell would now recognise
Eddie was the younger brother of Charlie, boss of the infamous south London 1960s gangster firm, the Richardson Brothers. They were the deadly rivals of the infamous east end firm, the Kray Gang, run by the twins, Ronnie and Reggie.
Charlie and Eddie began life in Camberwell in the 1930s. Starting out legitimately as scrap metal merchants in the late 1940s.
As their cash flow increased so their tentacles spread into the more dubious area of providing security in night clubs and bars and other protection rackets in south and south east London.
In their former scrap metal basement in Camberwell, a torture chamber was set up to deal with recalcitrant payers. With Eddie dressed in a Judge’s outfit and Charlie dressed as prosecuting council.
Eddie was said to have been particularly keen on dishing out the punishment which ranged from the cutting off fingers and toes to the electrocution of victims.
One of the regular Richardson haunts where protection money was collected and pay handed out to their henchmen was the Crown and Anchor pub, on the corner of Algernon Road and Brookbank Road, Ladywell.
On March 7 1966, the Richardson’s were taking over security and slot machines at Mr Smiths, a Catford nightclub emporium on Rushy Green on the March 7 1966.
But in the early hours of March 8, a gun battle broke out in the club with some associates of the Kray gang.
This led to the death of one of the Kray gang, Dickie Hart. Eddie Richardson and the gang’s enforcer Mad Frankie Fraser were taken to hospital suffering from gun shot injuries.
Members of the Richardson gang were rounded up, with Frankie and Eddie being charged with affray and sent to prison for five years apiece.
The following day Ronnie Kray entered the Blind Begger in Whitechapel, east London., and shot dead George Cornell, a prominent member of the Richardson gang, in a revenge attack.
A year later twin brother Reggie killed Jack The Hat Mcvitee, again in the Blind Begger. This finally led to Ronnie and Reggie being arrested and receiving life sentences.
By 1969, the era of the Richardson and Krays gangs were finally over.
The original Crown and Anchor was a Victorian street corner pub, which was badly damaged by bombing in world war two. It was eventually rebuilt in the “estate style” in 1963. It closed in 2006 and was demolished in 2013 and the site turned into flats