Frank Edwards, whose image appears on the pub sign, was born in 1892 and grew up in Chelsea. He was working as a stationer’s assistant when war was declared in August 1914. Three days later he joined the London Irish Rifles whose headquarters where on the King’s Road, Chelsea. Battle of Loos After training, Rifleman Edwards was sent to France in March 1915. He loved football and always kept a deflated leather football under his tunic, seizing every opportunity to play a game. On 25 September 1915, Edwards waited to go over the top on the first day of the Battle of Loos. Without his officer knowing, Edwards inflated his football and threw it out into No Man’s Land, just as the London Irish attacked. He wanted to dribble it toward the German lines to help keep the attack going. Almost immediately, he was shot in the thigh and badly gassed. Evacuated to hospital in England, he took two years to recover.  The ‘Footballer of Loos’ died in 1964. He lived near Twickenham Green

A local community group has been formed to try to keep the historic Rifleman pub on Fourth Cross Road, Twickenham open following the decision by Twickenham Fine Ales to step back from its ownership to concentrate on brewing.

In November the Lion Pub in Wick Road, Teddington reopened after a two year closure and a community consortium was formed to take over the pub and run it.

This the latest update on Facebook from the Rifleman Rescue Team aiming to save to 19th century pub, which featured in the ITV series Unforgotten.

“Hello everyone and a big welcome to all our new members! Our Facebook group is now over 250 strong, and our email group has more than 220 people. Thank you for joining us on this journey to save The Rifleman!

What’s happened so far?

  • Twickenham Fine Ales (TFA), who currently run the Rifleman, are planning to step away to focus on brewing. As locals who care about our pub, we started looking into what it would take to run it as a community venture.
  • TFA have been supportive, sharing lots of useful info so we can build a plan for a community pub.
  • We held a public meeting at the pub on 15 December—about 200 people came along and showed amazing support!
  • Our survey closed with 229 responses. The message was clear: The Rifleman is hugely valued, and people want it to stay a proper, traditional pub.
  • We’ve added the survey analysis documents into the Files section of this site for you to see the results for yourselves.

What did we learn?

  • Most people rated the pub 5/5 for community value.
  • Many plan to visit weekly or fortnightly, with a core group coming 2 or 3 times a week, or more!
  • There’s strong support for keeping it wet-led (a real pub!), with simple, good quality snacks—not a restaurant.
  • Loads of you are ready to help—buying community shares, volunteering, joining a steering group, fundraising, or offering your skills.

Our vision is coming together:

  • A traditional, well-kept pub
  • Great beer and more drink options (including alcohol-free and decent wine)
  • Simple, reliable food (snacks, toasties, sandwiches, pies)
  • Fun events (quizzes, darts, live music, themed nights)
  • Improved space inside and out
  • More visible management presence and better communication

“We believe that allied to its already strong community atmosphere these things give the pub a unique selling point that we can build on and that sets it aside from local competition.”

Next steps: “We’ve met again with the freeholder and made our views clear. The next big milestone is a condition survey in early January, which will help us work out funding, share pricing, and the legal framework.

“We’re also getting advice from community business experts and other community pubs in London.

“We’re aiming to take on the pub from April, but it’s a tight timeline. The response so far has been incredible—thank you!

“There are still challenges ahead, but together we can keep The Rifleman at the heart of our community.

“Stay tuned for more updates and ways to get involved!”

— The Rifleman Rescue Team