Venue: The Montague Arms
Town: London, GB

The Montague Arms was a music venue located at 289 Queens Road, in the Telegraph Hill ward of Lewisham, on the borders of Peckham and New Cross in south-east London from 1967 until 2018. The pub venue was known for its eccentric decor; which at some point included old fishing-boat lights, a 19th Century carriage containing a stuffed zebra, and an old diving suit. A pub with this name had been situated on Queen's Road since at least 1868, although the current building dates to around 1928-29 and was built by the east London based Truman's Brewery. The Montague Arms was owned by Peter Hoyle from 1967, and managed by Stan and Bet Pownall who ran it until their deaths in 2012. The pub reopened in 2014 under the ownership of Noel Gale. Whilst in charge Hoyle regularly performed, along with Peter London, as The Two Petes. They covered popular rock and pop songs with London on keyboards and vocals and Hoyle on drums. The duo put out a series of albums recorded live at the venue in the 1970s. It once bore a sign reading 'Tourists Welcome, Coaches Welcome' as, before the launch of the Eurostar and availability of cheap flights to mainland Europe, it was a regular stopping point for those headed to the ferry at Dover. In the 1970s and 1980s, as well as live music, the pub also regularly hosted live comedy. Mike Reid, Jimmy Jones and Jim Davidson performed there early in their careers. In Jimmy Jones' autobiography he claims to have been approached by Hoyle and Stan Pownall about performing there and to also have been involved with suggesting bookings for entertainment at the pub "from the very start" when they "didn't even have a stage". He also mentions there being strippers and drag acts performing on a weekly basis, and that The Rolling Stones visited the pub to watch him. Hoyle is quoted in the Rough Pub Guide remembering Paul McCartney turning up at the pub unannounced at some point in the 1980s. "He'd met Jim Davidson on the plane, and after Jim had told him about the p