Object: Crescent Moon Sign
Date: Unknown
Category: Breweriana
Museum Listing: CAMFK: 110.51
Price of Adoption: £12.50/month
The sign welcomed visitors to the Half Moon Inn which was a public house originally located on Trumpington street and moved in 1872 to 5 Little St Mary Lane.
The pub had developed a controversial reputation due to one of its landlords who took over in 1915, Noel Teulon-Porter, who was a sexologist and openly discussed topics such as sex education and homosexuality. These topics, though taboo at the time, could be discussed freely in his pub and led to it becoming a contentious spot in Cambridge, even apparently prompting an attempt to ban undergraduates from visiting!
During the First World War, the pub had its license removed due it encouraging the “licentious behaviour of the soldiery” and closed its doors. The pub was eventually turned into a house and was, for a time, home to Stephen and Jane Hawking.