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London Pubs
The Origins of the pub signsIn 1393 King Richard II decreed that pubs must have signs so that the examiner or tester of ales would know the location
of each pub.
The pictorial sign was developed in the times when the vast majority of the population were illiterate and needed something large,
simple and bright to recognise.
The Prospect of Whitby : 57 Wapping Wall E.1
This historic pub was built in 1520 with empty fields surrounding it. It was first called the Devil's Tavern and was soon a haunt for smugglers and thieves,
who sold bodies washed up by the Thames to medical schools. In 1777, to improve it's image it changed the name to a local moored ship transporting seacoal from Newcastle to London, called the Prospect of Whitby. In 1780 a sailor returning from the West Indies sold the first fushia in England for a quart of rum.
Regulars at this riverside pub where Dickens, Turner and Whistler, also the artist Gustave Dore sketched his London low life from this pub.
Town of Ramsgate : 62 Wapping high Street E.1
Just around the corner from the Prospect is the Town of Ramesgate, with a balcony overlooking the river. Known originally as the Red Cow after a rather bad-tempered red-head barmaid, the Town of Ramsgate came from the Kentish fishermen who landed their fish next door at Wapping Old Staires.
From the balcony at low tide you can still see the post where pirates were executed at Execution Dock. They were brought here and made to stand on a plank with a tight rope around their necks. The plank was tipped over, leaving the victim gasping for breath for 30 minutes. Still alive, they would then be cut down, squeezed into a metal gibbet and left to sink in the muddy river bank at low tide, after being submerged three time by the incoming tide and after an unpleasant death they were left for the crows who would pick at the rotting human flesh through the bars of the cage.
One famous pirate to die this way was Captain Kidd, in 1701. As a super star of the day he pulled a big crowed, among them an ex-lover, Kidd growled: 'I have lain with that bitch three times, now she comes to see me hanged'. The badly rusted harness was only rediscovered in the mud this centuary. During the eighteenth centuary, the cellars of the pub were used as dungeons for convicts awaiting transportation to America and Australia. There is also a nearby pub called 'The Captain Kidd' after the famous execution.
The Widow's Son : 75 Devons Road, Bow E.3
The widow’s son was due back in London on good Friday, his mother had made an hot cross bun to welcome him home to their cottage in Bow he never did make it and was never seen again. Every Easter she made a special bun, hoping for her son would return one day. He never came back and in 1848 the cottage became a pub, taking the name of 'the Widow's Son' to remember mothers
grief. The hot cross buns have still been coming, every Good Friday for the past 130 years. The buns still hanging from the ceiling, as hard as iron. On Good Friday, a Royal Navy sailor adds a new bun to the collection which hangs in the pub. Sailors from around Britain come to pay their respects to the widow. They hold a religious service, then sing, drink and generally have a good time.
The Mayflower : 117 Rotherhithe Street, S.E.16
Rotherhithe ship-owner Christopher Jones moored his ship outside this pub in 1620, when the pub was called the Shippe, in order to embark his passengers from the pub's jetty. Over three months later his human cargo disembarked at a place they christened Plymouth, New England; the passengers were the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers, the ship was The Mayflower and the colony they founded is now known as the United States of America.
One can only speculate whether the Pilgrim Fathers had a few swift beers in the Shippe before embarking on The Mayflower, as that would confirm the statement of whether 'The people who founded America must have been p****d!' On a less flippant note it's worth considering what the World would be like today had The Mayflower floundered en-route.
Ye Olde Watling : Watling street, E.C.4
Watling Street, built by the Romans in perfectly straight sections and the first direct highway from the Kent Coast to North Wales. Watling Street’s route through the City of London is punctuated by St Paul’s Cathedral, which virtually blocks its path. In the shadow of the World’s second largest Dome, where Bow Lane intersects Watling Street, sits Ye Olde Watling. The pub was allegedly built by St Paul’s Architect, Sir Christopher Wren, to accommodate labourers building the cathedral and incorporates the timbers of old ships.
Williamson's Tavern : 1 Groveland Court, Off Bow Lane, London, EC4
Williamson's hotel dates back to the seventeenth century and is reportedly the pub with the first excise license in the city of London. Dating back to just after the great fire of London 1666, it was occupied by the Lord Mayors of London until 1753. The building was then sold to Robert Williamson who turned it into a hotel. The wrought iron gates was presented by William III and the tiles on the fire place are Roman
The Bleeding Heart tavern : Bleeding heart yard, E.C.1
'A man in a velveteen coat,' Charles Dickens tells us, '[sits in the] parlour of a low public-house...[with]...a small glass, strongly impregnated with the smell of liquor'. The novel is Oliver Twist, the 'public-house' is The Three Cripples and the drinker is Bill Sykes. There's some debate upon which pub The Three Cripples is based; some suggest it's The Bleeding Heart Tavern becuase Dickens knew it well, although he also knew many others between Holborn and Clerkenwell. Dickens using Bleeding Heart Yard, the cobbled courtyard behind the pub, as the Plomish family home in Little Dorrit substantiates the claim.
Apparently, in a tale more suited to Jack the Ripper, is how Bleeding Heart Yard got its name Lady Elizabeth Hatton, after whose family the nearby Hatton Garden is named (the centre of the UK diamond trade). The morning after a ball at nearby Hatton House, Lady Elizabeth's disfigured body was found in the courtyard, the victim of a spurned lover, with her heart 'still pumping blood onto the cobblestones.'
The Mitre Tavern : Mitre court Hatton garden, E.C.1
There’s a sense of discovery when you find the Olde Mitre Tavern. It’s hidden down an alleyway between 8 and 9 Hatton Garden, marked by an old crooked street lamp and a small sign in the shape of a bishop's mitre.
Many who work in the area don't know it exists.
The original tavern was built in 1547 for the servants of the palace of the Bishops of Ely, Cambridgeshire.
Technically the tavern is still part of Cambridgeshire and until the last century the pub license was issued there. Even the City police had no juristiction here.
The palace was built as the Bishops London base, and is the oldest catholic church in London. They had power and riches and played host to Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.
After the reformation, Elizabeth forced the bishops to rent some of their land to Sir Christopher Hatton, one of her courtiers. The area is now known as Hatton Garden.
Both palace and pub were demolished in 1772. However the pub was soon re-built. A stone mitre from the palace gatehouse is built into a wall, just visible under the tumbling ivy. The preserved trunk of a cherry tree, which marked the boundry of the diocese, is in the corner of the front bar. It is said Elizabeth I danced the maypole around it.
The George : Wanstead High Street, E11
This pub has a 200 year old crime to boast. In 1752, two workmen were up on scaffolding while every day below them an impossible temptation went past. A tray full of the finest cakes from the bakers next door, they were carried aloft by the baker's boy, and tempting to reach out and pinch one...
On the 7th of July they were caught red cherry handed, as the sign reads. 'Ye Cherry pey'.
That day we had good cheer Hope to do for many a year.
Hand and Shears : Cloth Fair E C 1
A pub has stood on this spot in Cloth fair since the 12th century, what was once a busy street where the bartholomew Fair was held each year during the middle ages, and cattle were led to Smithfield market, now a quite corner of hidden London. At one time owned by the Merchant Taylor's and so allowed to bare the Hand and Shears emblem. A popular place for a drink before
heading to Newgate Prison to see the executions the sign above the door reads "The last ale house before the Newgate executions."
The Viaduct Tavern : 126 Newgate Street, E C 1
Fortunately there's no sense of early Victorian justice when visiting the downstairs toilets, as the cells for holding the rogues of the day are still present in the cellar. The Viaduct Tavern is built upon the site of Giltspur Street Compter, a sheriff's prison built on the gallows' site and demolished in 1855.
As the name suggests, The Viaduct Tavern is named after the nearby Holborn Viaduct, both of which were opened by Queen Victoria in 1869. This event was presumably one of Victoria's last public engagements, as Prince Albert had died eight years earlier and Victoria's 'retirement' from public life - in mourning - is well documented
Dirty Dicks : 202 Bishopsgate, E C 1
Dirty Dicks around 1950 note the sawdust floor
Nathaniel Bentley was an ironmonger who had a shop in Leadenhall Street.
On the eve of his wedding, tragedy struck. His bride-to-be died. So distraught was Nathaniel that he locked up the room in which he had prepared the wedding feast, never to enter it again.
A broken man, he neither washed or changed his clothes. When his cats died he just left them.
The English love an eccentric and his notoriety meant his business flourished. When Nathaniel retired in 1804, the landlord of the Old Port Wine Shop in Bishopsgate bought the contents lock, stock and dead cats. He put them on display at his pub and renamed it 'Dirty Dick's'.
In 1870 the pub was rebuilt from ground level, the wine vaults are part of the original building. The 'dirty' contents were carefully relocated in the new pub.
Sadly it was decided in the mid nineteen-eighties that a clean up was in order and the dirty artefacts were cleared away.
The Anchor : 34 Bankside, Southwark, S.E.1
It was from this pub that Samuel Pepys witnessed the awesome destruction of the Great Fire of London in 1666. He describes the dreadful heat and "fire drops" falling on him whilst in a boat on the river. He sought refuge in "a little alehouse on bankside and there watched the fire grow".
The Anchor was rebuilt in 1676 after fire devastated the area.
The pubs original structure has been added-to over several centuries, creating a maze of odd little rooms featuring old brick fire places, waney oak beams and worn, creaking floorboards.
There are several interesting bars, one named after Dr. Johnson, lexicographer and writer, who drank here regularly. A copy of his dictionary is on display.
The main dining room has wonderful views across the Thames to the City. Another, the Shakespeare Room (used for functions), has beautiful 18th century pine panelling. A first floor terrace and riverside terrace offer outdoor seating
The George Inn : Borough high street, S.E.1
The brewery's literature calls The George Inn 'The last remaining galleried coaching inn in London'. The George was rebuilt in 1676, after a devastating fire swept Southwark.
It was one of many such inns in the area, perhaps the most famous being the Tabard, where Chaucer began his Canterbury Tales in 1388.
The Tabard too was rebuilt after the fire, but was demolished in the late 19th century, despite a public outcry.
The George also narrowly avoided total destruction. Charles Dickens used The George Inn as the setting for a few the scenes in his novels, and apparently Shakespeare himself acted in the courtyard
The Queens Larder : 1 Queens Square, W C 1
George III stayed at the nearby home of Dr Willis during his first bout of 'madness', caused by prophyria, a rare metabolic disorder.
The illness first struck the King in1788 with symptoms that shocked the court, he was caught talking to a tree, and even worse attacked his son during dinner at Windsor Castle.
His treatment at Queens Square were often humiliating and horrific. George was tied down into an iron chair and disgusting remedies were smeared over his body.
During the King's confinement at Queens Square, his wife, Queen Charlotte, stored delicacies for her husband in the cellar of this pub.
Jerusalem Tavern : Britton Street, E.C.1
The Jerusalem Tavern with the side passage where Thomas Britten played his concerts.
The Jerusalem Tavern on Britton Street, takes it's name from the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem, that was founded in 1140 on this very ground.
The Tavern has occupied several sites in the same area during the past six hundred or so years and the present building dates from 1720. Britten Street takes it's name from an incredible coalman of the late 17th century, Thomas Britten who walked the streets by day, in a blue frock and with his small coal-measure in his hand, people would call out "there goes the small coalman, who is a lover of learning, a performer in music, and a companion for gentlemen." By night he gave concerts at the side of this pub in Jerusalem Passage, for he was a fine opera singer, and was frequently accompanied on the harpsichord by no less than Mr Handel.
Wooden tables and alcoves add to the charm of this old London tavern, settle back and forget the outside world for a bit.
The Red Lion : Colchester Street Aldgate E.1
The site of the Red Lion during demolition work
Now nothing more than a cloud of dust, though we are more interested in the history of this demolished pub than what the beers were like, so even though this public house no longer exists its history lives on.
In the year 1738 the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin stole from a farmer in Epping a mare called white stockings and stabled her here at the Red Lion. When his fellow highwayman Tom King came to fetch her, the constable also arrived. There was a struggle, and Dick Turpin cried out “Shoot, Tom or they’ll get us”. but in the confusion Turpin shot King, who died almost immediately. Behind a glass case in this pub from then until it closed its doors for the last time, about ten years ago, was an old sign board illustrating the incident, with a key to the stable where “White Stockings” was concealed.
Crown and Two Chairmen : 31-32 Dean Street, W1
Named after two sedan chair-bearers that dropped by as they took Queen Anne to have her portrait painted opposite. Karl Marx, the great 19th century socialist thinker and communist lived next door to the Crown & Two Chairmen during his "long, sleepless night of exile, and may well have had a quick half there.
The Cockpit Tavern : 7 St Andrews Hill, EC4
Up stairs viewing Gallery of the Cockpit Tavern
Built on the site of William Shakespeare house in blackfriars is the Cockpit Tavern that was also once a cock fighting arena. Once inside the round pub area you are actually on the cockfighting floor. Looking up you can still see the tiny gallery where the people would gather to watch the fight, as our picture above shows. In the cellars of this public house that are now used for storage are the rooms that were part of the Blackfriars Monastery. As this pub is off the beaten track it is out of the way of most tourist and is one of the only pubs in the area that opens on Sunday, so go along its well worth the effort.
Outside view of the Cockpit Tavern
Morpeth Arms : Millbank
The Morpeth Arms overlooking the River Thames and sited on part of the old Millbank Prison, with a prisoners ghost to boast of. It was a prisoner who died shortly before his transportation to Australia he lurks benaeth the bar in part of the old prison that still remains today.
The barman checking out the old prison cells for the ghost.
The Horse Hospital : Colonnade
The Horse Hospital on the corner of a quite Bloomsbury Mews by the name of Colonnade,
where originally in this old Victorian building the Horse Hospital existed. You arrive in the bar area on the first floor by
walking up the cobbled stone ramp where sick horses were once led to the awaiting Veterinary Surgeon.
The BlackFriar : 176 Queen Victoria Street
This pub stands on the site of Blackfriars monastery, built in 1221 demolished in 1538. The pub was built in 1904, and contains a large monk laughing above the entrance to the pub. Contains many illustrations of monks and friars. Fragments of some monastery wall were built around Shakespeare's Play house theatre in Ireland yard and are still there today.
Water colour by William Eales
Masons Arms : Maddox Street W.1
The first records of the Masons Arms was as a tailors shop in the 1800's. In the year of 1851 William Lelong opened it up as a hairdressers salon. In 1858 he passed the ownership to Mrs. Charlotte Ward who turned the shop into a public House and called it the Masons Arms in recognition of the stonemasons who were busy on the development of this part of Mayfair. It has remained the Masons Arms ever since.
The Grenadier pub : Wilton Row S.W.1
Wilton Place, built in 1872 on the site of a cow yard will lead you from Knightsbridge to Wilton Crescent and then into the hard to find Wilton Row. This delightful mews was once part of the barracks of the Duke of Wellington’s guards,
the Iron Duke who lived a short distance away at Apsley house,
better known as number one London. The old officer’s mess now houses the Grenadier Pub,
along with the patriotic red, white and blue décor and the grenadier’s century box that would
be a tourist delight if they could only find it. It is said to be haunted by an officer who was
shot cheating at cards. You can feel like you are in the country in this quite corner of a busy part of town.
Dickens Inn : St Catherines way E1
The Dickens Inn looks every bit an old eighteenth century public house,
though in fact it is little under thirty years old. Said to be part of the stage set for
“Oliver” the Lionel Bart musical of Oliver Twist, part of Faggins Lair and this is where the Dickens connection lies.
Dickens himself would have been down the road at the older Wapping pubs. This is a tourist
attraction and the only reason we have mentioned this pub is that it stands on the sight of an older brewery that made ale for the Tower of London.
Nell Gwynne Pub: 2 Bull Inn Court W.C.2
If by chance you should wander down Bull Inn Court that runs between Maiden Lane and the Strand you will stumble upon the Nell Gwynne Public house.
This establishment was built in 1897 on the site of an older pub the Bull’s Head, whereby the passageway takes its name. It is said that while Nelly worked
selling her wares at Covent Garden she would visit the older establishment that stood here a few hundred years before. The present pub is one of London’s
smaller establishments, that takes you back to Victorian times, with a white knuckle walk down a steep staircase to the toilets. It is said to house one of
London’s best jukebox record collection, it remains a good spot for a pre-theatre drink.
Cask and Glass: 39 Palace Street, Westminster, London, SW1
Cask and Glass pub with the side view of the Prisoner's house on the left.
Said to be the smallest London pub and I must admit they don't come much smaller, in fact the first time I popped in for a pint a few years ago,
I was told that they were only sold in half pints, as there was not enough room to store pint glasses! It was first known as the Duke of Cambridge,
and is said to have been the first London pub to serve Shepherd Neame's beers. It is the Queens local pub too, being the nearest pub to Buckingham Palace.
Also for cult t. v fans it backs onto the house of "The Prisoner," Patrick McGoohan, alias No 6, where his old house stands on the corner of Buckingham Street, and Palace Street,
it appeared in the opening sequence of each episode, from where he was abducted. During Spring and Summer the little pub has a wonderful flower display.
Front view of the Prisoner's house in Buckingham Street.
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