• 71 Wandsworth High Street, 
  • Wandsworth, 
  • London, 
  • SW18 2PT

0208 161 0038

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St Patrick’s Day

My absolute favourite day of the year!

Being from an Irish family, St Patrick’s Day is always cause for celebration and great craic. It’s an excuse to sink a few pints of the black stuff, sing trad songs at the top of your lungs, reminisce with your loved ones and celebrate the culture & heritage of our beloved Ireland.

Organising this year’s St Patrick’s Day party at the Spread Eagle has been great fun and it’s set to be the only place to celebrate in Wandsworth! But what’s been extra special in the lead up to today has been learning more about our pub’s Irish roots and its history as a home for the South London Irish community.

So, Happy St Patrick’s to you! Please enjoy this little insight into the Irish lifeblood of our lovely pub.

Sláinte!

Connal xx

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A Grand History

Patrick and Margaret Mcquaid were Landlord and Landlady here many moons ago in the late 1950’s. Alongside them on the bar was barman John Conroy. They used to host weddings upstairs and the bar was full of Irish regulars, who played impromptu trad sets in the pub downstairs!

Batty and Claire Cahill were Landlord and Landlady from 1968 when their daughter Ally was born, to around 1980. They were an Irish couple who had emigrated in the sixties to London. They met in another pub in London where Claire was a cook and Batty a barman.

Ally was born in one of the rooms upstairs, when the midwife came to the pub, as there was no time to get to the hospital! Claire went on to have another eight children, seven of whom were

born while they were running The Spread. The kitchen was on the first floor, where a lovely lady called Mary used to cook for the pub. Ally can remember helping her to prepare the potatoes for the delicious homemade chips she used to make. The food was served in the saloon bar and there was an old piano in this room at the time.

Claire used to blow up balloons for the New Years Eve party every year and would have bags of them ready at the top of the stairs to throw over the banister at midnight. Some of the Irish Customers used to play instruments such as the accordion and sing. There were always dominoes, cards and a dart board in The Public bar too.

We’re back under Irish management with our Landlord Connal Donovan taking over the Spread Eagle from 2022! Connal’s dad hails from Skibbereen in County Cork and the love of Guinness has been thoroughly passed onto our lovely Landlord.

Since reopening in 2022, community has been at the heart of Connal’s vision for our pub. We’re excited to be partnering with the London Irish Centre for an exciting In Conversation With later in the summer, where we’ll be hearing more about the history of Irish pubs in London and the impact Irish immigrants have had on the pub culture here. We’ll also be setting up an exhibition of archive photographs of our previous Landlord’s and pub throughout the years!

We love hearing about the history of our pub – if you have any memories please do email me (Molly) at spreadeaglewandsworth@youngs.co.uk and we can add you to our Spread Eagle Wandsworth timeline!

For now – pop in tonight to celebrate St Patrick’s Day with us; with live Irish music from 9pm, Irish bar snacks and Jameson’s cocktails flowing!

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