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A great many landlords have had their names painted above the door, and the sign painters fleetingly recorded a veritable victuallers’ Who’s Who, with poor Richard Keen who ‘dyed with ye smallpox’ being one of the earliest. There were Edsells, Fenns, Moons, Maynes and Searles, Wells, Agates and Rollets. The list rolls on and on but with perhaps the most notable incumbent being one Julius Caesar. This was probably not the Godalming born Julius Caesar of Surrey cricket fame who went on to play 194 first-class cricket matches and score 4,879 runs as he would have been too young at the time, but more likely his father.
The current landlord, Neale, is no less laudable a fellow, and indeed since taking up the Scratchers mantle some years ago has been instrumental in making sure that the pub has kept its character and music licence. Scratchers, as the pub is fondly called by locals and music lovers alike, has provided a venue for musicians on and off for nigh on sixty years. It takes a lot of commitment to continue this tradition and today Scratchers provides free access to all of the best talent, from local and national to international, transforming itself into a vibrant live music venue for over 100 band nights a year.
And why ‘Scratchers’? Stories abound from fleas migrating from a removals warehouse next door (now a swanky block of apartments) to dead fingers fresh from the gallows scratching at their coffins in the cellar. The most laudable reason refers to the pub sign that once swung in the wind outside – three lions beneath a tree, one of which was scratching enthusiastically on the trunk. That is of course unless you know better. . . .
THE THREE LIONS IN BLOOM PICTURES
