Bowie, who lived in Beckenham as a child, regularly performed at the pub and launched his career there. The pub has since been turned into a branch of Italian restaurant chain Zizzi.
A plaque commemorating the singer’s connection with the pub was placed on the side of the building in 2010, and the restaurant interior contains several nods to Bowie, including ‘star boy’ and ‘star girl’ toilet signs, murals and artwork on the tables.
Fullers managed house the Victoria in Paddington is hosting a pop-up David Bowie gig with a live band covering his most iconic songs.
Manager Helen Wilson told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser: “David Bowie played a gig here back when he was still unknown. We’re a backstreet boozer that doesn’t normally play music, but he’s such an iconic person. Everybody knows the key songs and you hear them in pubs all the time. This is what pubs are about- people joining in to celebrate together.”
The Prince Albert pub in nearby Brixton, where Bowie was born, will also host a party in memory of the star playing his music and encouraging guests to dress up and raise a toast to the singer.
North London pub the Wig and Gown hosted a memorial event to honour Motorhead frontman Lemmy earlier this week, live streaming his funeral for fans wanting to pay their last respects.
On Facebook, the pub said: “It was great to see all the rock pubs and bars working together. We all promoted each other, and I think this sort of thing needs to happen more often, especially as it is a sad fact the London music scene is diminishing almost daily.”
A recent report from the Music Venue Trust found that grassroots music venues like the former Three Tuns pub and the Wig and Gown are struggling to survive due to a perfect storm of business rates, rising property prices, the planning system and ‘prescriptive’ licensing requirements.
Boris Johnson has acknowledged the role grassroots music venues, many of which are pubs, play in creating a flourishing UK music scene.
“From the Rolling Stones to David Bowie, the Clash to Oasis and Ed Sheeran to Adele, grassroots music venues have played a key role in enabling some of the biggest names in music to develop as artists and to build audiences.
“They are the incubators for the stars that go on to pack the stadiums in London and across the world.”