History

History of the Savoy Tap

A Suttling House was a tavern primarily serving locally stationed soldiers – an historic forerunner of the modern NAAFI bar - and the one within the land once known as the Liberty of the Savoy is first mentioned in a 1723 report by the Surveyor General to the Lords of the Treasury (1) , and in the accounts of workers on the construction of the Lutheran Church within the Precinct (2), although it may predate both documents.

As a consequence of civil unrest, military mutiny, fire and general redevelopment it has been rebuilt numerous times and owing to owner’s choice (or
in one case simple transcription error) it has been variously referred to as the Savoy Barracks, Suttling Horse, Savoy Palace, New Savoy Tavern and Savoy Tup.

This historic, traditional pub, now nestled within a larger 1920s rebuild on the same old Palace site, became the Savoy Tap in 2018.

(1) 'Volume 243: January 11-June 27, 1723', in Calendar of Treasury Papers, Volume 6, 1720-1728, ed. Joseph Redington (London, 1889).
(2) In 1723 a German Lutheran Church was built on what is now part of the site of the Institute of Engineering and Technology.

It’s not possible to say for sure how often the soldiers had been drinking in the Suttling House immediately before the frequent mutinies and revolts in the barracks, but it may offer an explanation for some of the following:

“About eight o’clock in the evening, the recruits in the Savoy mutinied: a guard was sent to quell them, who at first were ordered to fire only with powder; the recruits returned the compliment by throwing brickbats, which knocked several of the soldiers down; they were then ordered to fire with ball, which wounded several of the recruits, and put a stop to the fray. But unhappily one Jones, belonging to the third regiment of foot guards ..… was taken for one of the prisoners by the sentinel, who immediately shot at him, and the ball went through his head, and killed him on the spot.”
(Annual Register, 1759)

In 1761 over 200 military prisoners held in the Savoy mutinied, 1763 saw a revolt by East India Company troops stationed here and in 1776 there was another mutiny. The last recorded rebellion was in 1798 and by 1820 the barracks had been demolished to make way for the approach to the new Waterloo Bridge.

As can be seen from the sign above the first floor Green Room, the 1920’s incarnation – the New Savoy Tavern – was affiliated to the William Younger Brewery, which would merge with Edinburgh rivals McEwans in 1931 to form Scottish Brewers, which in turn merged with Tyne Brewers in 1960 to form Scottish & Newcastle, later absorbed by Carlsberg, Heineken, Wells and Young’s, before being sold by Charles Wells to Marstons. With a history of surviving everything from military revolt, natural disaster, and boardroom manoeuvres, it is fitting that the Savoy Tap should now be settled in the care of Britain’s oldest brewers – Shepherd Neame.