pp19-20.

Quotes Edmund Yates. Recollections and Experiences Vol. 1 (1884): "‘Evan’s late Joy’s’ – the pun was intentional – had a reputation for higher-class singing than its rivals, but the principal attraction to its all-male audiences was the opportunity to add their own obscene interpretations to popular songs of the day. Gradually, however, a change took place in the style of entertainment. Ribald songs were banished, and instead the choruses were sung by choirs of young boys whose sweet fresh voices were heard with charming effect in the old glees and madrigals. The little room was too small for the audience; it was pulled down [in 1855] and a vast concert-room built on its site with a stage where the singers stood…” (19).

Quotes Christopher Pulling's They Were Singing:The “Cave of harmony in [Thackeray’s] The Newcomes was probably a composite picture of Evans’s and the Coal Hole, just as his Back Kitchen in Pendennis has been identified with the Cyder Cellars” (4).


Also notes that no women were permitted during the years covered by this database, and that there was no admission fee (9).


Further information on pp2-5.

pp74-5.