Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms
Encyclopedia
Evans Music-and-Supper Rooms, 43 King Street, Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

, was a famous venue for music and singing in early nineteenth century London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, providing the type of entertainment which later evolved into music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

.
Formerly the dining room of the Grand Hotel, a 'song and supper' room was established here in the 1840s by W.H. Evans. It was also known as Evans Late Joy's - the venue previously being owned by a man named Joy. In 1844 the rooms were taken over by 'Paddy' Green, who had been one of Evans' entertainers. Paddy Green reconstructed the rooms and maintained their reputation. The room was 113 feet (34.4 m) long by 56 feet (17.1 m) wide.

Entertainment was provided by choir boys singing madrigal
Madrigal (music)
A madrigal is a secular vocal music composition, usually a partsong, of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six....

s and glees
Glees
Glees is a municipality in the district of Ahrweiler, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It lies near the Maria Laach Abbey....

, followed by older comic singers such as Sam Cowell
Sam Cowell
Samuel Houghton Cowell was an actor and singer of comical songs. He was the son of Joe Cowell, a British actor who was touring the United States. He worked a child actor with his father in productions of Shakespeare in the US...

, Charles Sloman and Sam Collins
Sam Collins
Samuel Jason "Sam" Collins is an English footballer who plays as a defender for Hartlepool United, where he serves as captain. His brother, Simon, is also a former professional footballer and manager....

. The patrons would eat, drink and talk at tables provided and themselves engage in singalongs, sometimes of a 'lewd' nature. The venue was patronised by William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray
William Makepeace Thackeray was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.-Biography:...

, who presented it (in a composite portrait with the Coal Hole and the Cyder Cellars: two other nearby song-and-supper rooms) as "The Cave of Harmony" in his novel The Newcomes
The Newcomes
The Newcomes is an novel by William Makepeace Thackeray, first published in 1855.-Publication:The Newcomes was published serially over about two years, as Thackeray himself says in one of the novel's final chapters...

and as "The Back Kitchen" in Pendennis
Pendennis
Pendennis is a novel by the English author William Makepeace Thackeray. It is set in 19th century England, particularly in London. The main hero is a young English gentleman Arthur Pendennis who is born in the country and sets out for London to seek his place in life and society...

. The Coal Hole is still an established venue to this day, and is located on the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...

.

Unlike the later music halls the patrons were male only, until the 1860s when women were at last admitted. The venue closed in 1880, and in 1930 upstairs rooms in the building were taken by the Players' Theatre
Players' Theatre
The Players' Theatre was a theatre in London as well as a theatre club for music hall in the style of the BBC programme "The Good Old Days".-Origins:...

Club who wished to revive the music hall tradition. The cast became known as the 'Late Joys' and have since provided old time music hall entertainment at a variety of other venues.
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