Christchurch's Crooked Beam restaurant hid Tudor gatehouse

Summarised from Bournemouth Echo's report · Updated 9 Oct, 06:00 · Archive

Christchurch's Crooked Beam restaurant, a much-loved establishment on Barrack Road, concealed a 16th-century gatehouse dating from 1538 before its demolition.

Christchurch's Crooked Beam restaurant, located off Barrack Road, has been demolished to make way for a three-storey block containing ten flats. The building dated from 1538 and originally served as the gatehouse to the Jumpers Estate. It later became a restaurant known for its low Tudor timbers, traditional British food and local historical connections.

For years, diners repeated a claim that Ethel Le Neve, the fugitive lover of Edwardian murderer Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen, had owned the restaurant after escaping to Christchurch under a false name. Research by John Peatey and the Christchurch History Society later found no genuine connection between Le Neve and the site, concluding the tale came from sightings, misinformation and coincidences.

Changing eating habits and financial pressure in hospitality led to the restaurant's decline. Its owners spent four years trying to find a buyer willing to keep the business open before submitting demolition plans in May 2013, removing a surviving piece of Tudor history from the area.

Read the report

• Murder legend at much-loved but long-lost Christchurch restaurantChristchurch’s Crooked Beam restaurant hid a 1538 Tudor gatehouse and false Ethel Le Neve link before demolition made way for ten flats.Bournemouth Echo · 9 Oct, 00:35

In this story: Christchurch · Ethel Le Neve · Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen · Christchurch History Society · John Peatey

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