STANDING on the corner of Chantry Road and Andersons Road and owned by Barlow’s Victoria Brewery, the Gurney Arms had a beer licence prior to 1869 and was granted a full licence in March, 1961.

The pub was under the ownership of Brickwoods when its licence was suspended in July 1965 casting a very bleak shadow over the future of the pub, which stood battered and crumbling and had been earmarked for demolition to make way for apartments.

But its fortunes took a strange upturn towards the end of 1966 when a bunch of film men came along and spotted the pubs undoubted talents and cast it as a location for the new thriller film that they were working on.

They got onto the phone to Brickwoods to obtain use of the now derelict pub and it wasn’t long before the scene makers moved in with paint and plywood to give the old place a makeover for its film debut.

Film stars James Mason and Geraldine Chaplin – Charlie’s daughter – made an appearance at the “new” Gurney Arms in October 1966 to shoot five days of filming at the location for the MGM movie Stranger in the House.

Despite of its last reprieve, time was called at the pub for good just a few days later when fire ripped through the building in a controlled demolition.

Daily Echo:

In recent years, scores of pubs across Southampton have shut down. They were all focal points for their communities during their time, and their loss is often lamented.

Some were sold because the owners’ could get more money for housing, others because landlords could no longer afford the expensive rents and costs of running a pub, while others may have simply seen their trade dry up.

The Daily Echo is going back through the archives to remember Southampton’s pubs which have been lost over the years.

As well as a weekly look back at the forgotten establishments on the pages of Hampshire Heritage, The Daily Echo is also compiling a comprehensive gallery of Southampton’ Lost Pubs, with part one in this series now available to view on the Daily Echo’s website.

Do you have any photographs or happy memories of your lost local?

If so, Hampshire Heritage would love to share them with our readers.

Please contact Jez Gale at jez.gale@dailyecho.co.uk or write to Hampshire Heritage, Southern Daily Echo, Newspaper House, Test Lane, Southampton, SO16 9JX.