Song and Supper rms

Dr. Johnson's Concert Room.

Located in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and so called because old Dr. Johnson had lived nearby.

Very similar to the other Song & Supper Rooms, the speciality of the Dr. Johnson was brown beer chops and kidneys, it was also famous its oysters in the season. An odd old man named Poynter would wheel in a large barrel of oysters on a wheelbarrow and open them for the customers as they ordered.

As with Evans's an old waiter calculated or miscalculated the bill and it was paid without question.

In its very late days, one of Music Hall's most vivid stars, Jenny Hill, The Vital Spark, made a quiet and undistinguished professional debut at the Dr. Johnson.

There was a Chairman to announce the singers, to keep order and encourage the drinking. The most celebrated one of whom John Caulfield. He had been an actor at the Haymarket under old John Baldwin Buckstone, and was a man of parts as well as a good songwriter.

It was opened by a Mr. Brown, then run by Isaac Bryant, eventually becoming The City Music Hall, but was unable to compete with its newer and better constructed rivals so closed in 1863 and became, in part, a portion of the Albert Club for sporting gentry, mostly horse racing                                                               Condensed from The Melodies Linger On by W Maqueen-Pope

Officially called City Concert Room. Scott - Early Doors