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Royal Albert Saloon

Venue Type & Location

Tavern

Overview

  • Address: 106 Shepherdess' Walk, City road (North of the Grecian Saloon/Eagle Tavern) For a current map, Click Here.

  • Alternate Names: Royal Albert Saloon and Standard Tavern and Tea Gardens

  • Performance Space Description: Information about this venue has not yet been compiled; however, some sense of the performance space may be gleaned by following the links at right. In particular:

  • See the 'Bibliographic Sources' link for a provisional list of venue-relevant resources (both primary and secondary). Wherever possible (i.e. when the pertinent text is relatively short and/or easily condensed) this material has been transcribed, and appears beneath the appropriate bibliographic citation.

  • See the 'Events at venue' link for a listing of blackface/minstrelsy-related events that took place in this performance space (with attached bibliographic references).

    Beth Marquis

  • Address: 106 Shepherdess' Walk, City road (North of the Grecian Saloon/Eagle Tavern). For a current map, Click Here.

  • Alternate Names: Royal Albert Saloon and Standard Tavern and Tea Gardens

  • Performance Space Description: Information about this venue has not yet been compiled; however, some sense of the performance space may be gleaned by following the links at right. In particular:

  • See the 'Bibliographic Sources' link for a provisional list of venue-relevant resources (both primary and secondary). Wherever possible (i.e. when the pertinent text is relatively short and/or easily condensed) this material has been transcribed, and appears beneath the appropriate bibliographic citation.

  • See the 'Events at venue' link for a listing of blackface/minstrelsy-related events that took place in this performance space (with attached bibliographic references).

    Beth Marquis

  • Troupes at Royal Albert Saloon

    Film Affiliated people Film Type # of event(s)
    Ethiopian Minstrels Minstrel Definite Ethiopian Minstrels
    Holmes, J.B. Holmes, J.B. Minstrel Definite Holmes, J.B.
    Nigger Nathan Nathan, Nigger Minstrel Definite Nigger Nathan

    Events at Royal Albert Saloon

    Event Date Venue Location Film
    Variety - London, London (city-county) Nigger Nathan
    Dramatic - London, London (city-county) Nigger Nathan
    Dramatic - London, London (city-county) Ethiopian Minstrels
    Dramatic - London, London (city-county) Nigger Nathan
    Dramatic - London, London (city-county) Nigger Nathan
    Dramatic - London, London (city-county) Nigger Nathan
    Variety - London, London (city-county) Holmes, J.B.

    Bibliographic Sources

    • London: The Library Association, 1970
      p.21 (under Bayswater Public House).
    • (Under Entertainment - Gardens & Spas - Albert Saloon & Royal Standard Pleasure Gardens)
    • Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003
      pp55-58.

      Notes that the venue was also called the “Royal Albert Saloon and Standard Tavern and Tea Gardens” (55), and gives some information about the performance space and typical fare.
    • Public Record Office (now National Archives), Lord Chamberlain's Collection Police Report, N. Division, Sept. 20, 1844:


      “Gentlemen, With reference to the Albert Saloon situate in Shephedess Walk in my Division, it s [?] by a number of low and disorderly characters, particularly boys from 12 -16 or 17 years of age, who are frequently employed in selling checks and orders for admission to the Saloon and make use of the most violent and blackguard language to the great annoyance of the respectable inhabitants about the place, all of whom complain and may state they cannot let their lodgings in consequence of the noise and disorder created by them. […]

      Sixpence is charged for admission and one shilling to what [?] the stalls out of which sixpence worth of drink or other refreshment is given.
    • Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1981
      p89.