Ancient London Taverns

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ANTIQUE 1922 ENGLAND LONDON GEOLOGICAL COAL IRON MAP NR
22 Aug 2011 at 7:32am

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RARE ANTIQUE GLASS DECANTER~LONDON ENGLAND CIRCA 1910 w/STERLING NECK
24 Apr 2011 at 7:17am

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Almost every week in 1900 one read of some old building that had vanished, a veritable object lesson to remind us of the past; and before many years had elapsed it would be hard to find any such in London.

In the case of such ancient taverns as existed, they were frequently so metamorphosed and modernized that no charm of picturesque association remained.

Amongst scores that had utterly disappeared, were the White Hart, and the Sir Paul Pindar, (its Elizabethan frontage was in the Victoria and Albert Museum), both in Bishopsgate Street, the Old Elephant in Fenchurch Street, the Old Bell, and the Black Bull in Holborn, the Cock in Fleet Street (swept away when Temple Bar was removed), Old Betty's Chop House in the Strand, and - shortly before 1900 - the Old Dog in Holywell Street, and Dick's Coffee House in Hare Court, Temple.

However, there were some scanty gleanings to be picked up in this field of research, once yielding such abundant crops of antiquarian lore, but they had to be diligently sought for over a wide area.

At Wimbledon, as one entered the town from the common, on the left-hand side was a quaint specimen of an old tavern, with low-pitched rooms and narrow passages.

On the edge of Putney Common at the brow of the hill was the Green Man, many centuries old.

Fulham used to abound with old inns, but they had all - with the exception of the Eight Bells near the bridge - been brought up to date.

On the Upper Mall, Hammersmith, adjoining the Doves, so well known to boating-men, was the Old Ship, a very interesting remnant of the past.

In Wandsworth High Street on the north side, near the bridge over the Wandle, was a small inn of James II's time, its floor below the level of the street; and at the mouth of the Wandle was a queer waterside tavern.

Southwark still had the remains of the George Inn and the Queen's Head, while the Half Moon in the Borough High Street (unless it has been "improved") was in capital preservation, and an excellent specimen of a galleried inn.

The City had Crosby Hall, a noble remembrance of the past; Pimm's in the Poultry, a portion of which was very old; and The Shades in Martin Lane, Cannon Street, whose interior had quite an old-world look.

Fleet Street boasted of the old Cheshire Cheese, a veritable relic of Dr. Johnson's time.

In Portsmouth Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, facing King's College Hospital, still stood a very queer old tavern; and the Rising Sun, at the corner of Wych Street, was spared to us.

At Chelsea near the gate of the Hospital Gardens was a funny little beer-shop, resorted to by the old pensioners, and ancient enough in its appearance to be picturesque.

At Chigwell, near London, was the delightful King's Head, a real old tavern, immortalized by Dickens as the Maypole in Barnaby Rudge.

Such districts as Blackheath, Greenwich, Deptford, Wapping, Rotherhithe, Shadwell, Lambeth, Walworth, Battersea, Camberwell, Hampstead, Highgate, Hornsey, Hackney, and Shoreditch, were hunting-grounds where a few ancient taverns might be "bagged."