Pub where Iron Maiden cut their teeth shuts down after brutal attack

Iron Maiden in 1979 — (Image credit: Martyn Goddard/Corbis - Getty)

The pub where a young Iron Maiden cut their teeth has been shut down following a brutal attack outside the venue.

The Evening Standard report that staff at The Ruskin Arms in London’s East Ham allegedly failed to call police when two men stamped on the head of an unconscious customer and continued to sell alcohol.

The owners of the venue had been scheduled to appear before Newham council’s licensing committee, but it seems they gave up their licence and boarded up the pub instead.

PC Gary Watson tells the Evening Standard: “The suspects can be seen to stamp on the head of their unconscious victim several times.

“Police were made aware of the assault by London Ambulance Service and not the premises. CCTV shows that there is a clear reaction from people inside the pub to the events outside. The doors were fixed open at the time.

“There was no call to police from the venue, even though there were emergency vehicles outside and a member of bar staff continues to serve, even after looking out of the window.”

Iron Maiden played regularly at The Ruskin Arms along with other NWOBHM bands in their early days, and marked its place in their history by immortalising it on the cover of their 1986 album Somewhere In Time.

In 1965, The Small Faces made their live debut at The Ruskin Arms, which closed in 2008 and subsequently reopened in 2011 as a bar and hotel.

The Evening Standard confirmed that there had been no applications to to transfer the licence and that the pub was now “closed permanently.”

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