For well over two hundred years there has been a “Cricketers" in Rainham. The present house was opened in 1938 and was built at the rear of the old one which stood there for 200 years. It was well known to travellers on the Dover Road as it was used frequently by stage coaches. When the new one was opened it was the most modern of its kind in the neighbourhood, with extensive bar space and a childrens room. There were also tea gardens and a bowling green.
On the opposite side of the road is the “White Horse”. This house in the 1870s was advertised as an ‘Inn having a very fine livery stables'.
As we go further down the High St. in the direction Dover, we come to the “Green Lion". This house in the 1870s was known as the LION COMMERCIAL INN which had adjoining it a family grocers and boasted as having good stabling and coach houses. A legend has it that a highwayman was nearly caught in the “Lion” and he dived through one of the windows to escape the Bow Street runners. The “Green Lion“ as it is known today still has retained its old world charm and it is reckoned to be the oldest pub in Rainham.
Photo of The Green Lion in 1972
About a hundred yards further along is a private house which was once known as the “Watermans Arms" which was an ale house and was closed down around 1919
F G. Willmott
THE GREEN LION PUBLIC HOUSE by Hazel Staden