n 1830 Chalk Farm Tavern stood alone on Chalk Farm Lane and, with Primrose Hill nearby, was a popular destination for excursions by Londoners.
It began selling ale in the 17th century (although farming continued until at least 1732) and had become the Chalk Farm Tavern by 1790. It included pleasure gardens on the site now bounded by Berkley Road, Chalcot Square and Sharpleshall Street (CLSAC). At the height of its fame the Tavern boasted a dance floor capable of taking one thousand people as well as a bandstand, known as the Chinese Orchestra, which was 36 feet high.
When Primrose Hill Tunnel was being built, the Chalk Farm Tavern was usually the first resting place of navvies killed in the works. By then the Tavern was separated from its gardens by the new road that became Regent’s Park Road. The Tavern was rebuilt in 1853-4 to a size much smaller than its predecessor. The popular Greek restaurant, Limonia, now occupies the 1854 building.
Camden Engine Shed stretched for more than 700ft (215m) from the turntable behind the Pembroke Castle (above left) to well beyond the Lansdowne (above right). Many rail workers lived nearby and used the footbridge in Dumpton Place to get to the Engine Shed. The Lansdowne was open when they came off shift in the early hours.
Besides some six pubs on the Primrose Hill side of the tracks, many others clustered along Chalk Farm Road and Jamestown Road. Camden also boasted an Edinburgh Castle, a Dublin Castle and a Carnarvon (sic) Castle to meet the thirst of workers from all parts of the realm. The first two of these remain, as does the Windsor Castle nearby in Park Road.
The pubs in Primrose Hill include The Engineer, from where the familiar figure of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, stove-pipe hatted and cigar smoking, gazes down at a railway he played virtually no part in. Perhaps the Grade II listed pub, will finally change its inn sign to feature his friend and rival, Robert Stephenson.