The Kings Arms, Peckham Rye

132 Peckham Rye was once the address of The King’s Arms public house, which was hit by a bomb during a World War II German air raid I which eleven people lost their lives. The pub was rebuilt and overtime eventually became a nightclub named Kings on the Rye before finally being demolished in the late 1990’s by a block of flats.

The Kings Arms dated from at least 1878 when the landlord was a man named Robert Turner. It was the post World War II, rebuilt pub that gained a reputation of being haunted by the ghosts of those who lost their lives in that fateful nights bombing raid. Many of the usual haunting like experiences were reported, including objects being moved, the sound of ghostly footsteps and strange noises. There was also an apparition, thought to be one of the victims which was witnessed at least twice by separate witnesses. However, a stranger experience was reported to associate this case. According to Guy Lyon Playfair in The Haunted Pub Guide; ‘Former barman Gary Hallet has claimed to have heard an old-time sing-song with piano accompaniment coming from the cellars, and……similar sounds have also been heard by neighbours.’