Buy Sir ’Enry’s gym for a knockout price
A FORMER pub in south London that became a key site in the histories of both British sport and rock music is being sold at auction with a guide price of almost £2 million.
The first floor of the Thomas A Becket in Old Kent Road has a place in boxing legend as the location of the gym used by Sir Henry Cooper. US boxing greats Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard sparred there when they were preparing for bouts in Britain.
Sir Henry, the former British, European and Commonwealth heavyweight champion, trained at the premises six days a week for 14 years from 1956.
The Bermondsey venue also played a role in Britain’s musical heritage: its second floor was used as a rehearsal space for David Bowie’s seminal 1972 album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
The building’s freehold will be sold by Savills at its London and national auction on June 22, with a £1.9 million guide price. The ground and first floors are vacant, with flats and bedsits above. The pub’s licence was revoked by Southwark council in March after a “serious assault” the previous month.
Chris Coleman-Smith, head of Savills auctions, said: “The Thomas A Becket is a local landmark in SE1, offering buyers the opportunity to breathe a new lease of life into a historic building.
“A blend of commercial and residential space, it allows prospective buyers to access two well-performing sectors of the market in an up-and-coming location. The area is set to benefit from the proposed extension of the Bakerloo line, with a number of new home developments already under way.”
The building carries a blue plaque commemorating the link to Sir Henry, who died in 2011 aged 76. Known for the power of his left hook — dubbed ’Enry’s ’Ammer — he twice fought Ali. During the first fight in 1963 he knocked the American over, but lost after suffering a severe cut over his eye.
The building dates from 1898 but the site in Old Kent Road has been a stopping point for travellers for centuries, and is mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.