So lovely to see these photo’s. I want to visit The Grapes one day.

Charlotte Saunders (nee Higgins) married Douglas Saunders and was my Nan. She may be the little girl peeping out of the window. She looked so much like the lady in the photo (her Mum).

Best Wishes
Marie

All the time I was reading your article GA, I was wondering if this was The Grapes used frequently in Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander ‘Aubrey & Maturin’ novels. So off I popped to do a bit of research. Sadly, it wasn’t as O’Brian’s The Grapes was on The Strand and no longer exists…

…however, The Grapes, Limehouse, does indeed get a mention!

I’m always finding something to keep me interested in your vocational blogs – I love it! ❤️⚓️

Max lived to the great age of thirteen-and-a-half and I had him put to sleep, peacefully, in front of the fire in the river end of the bar, in the afternoon of Sunday the 19th November, 1995 after we had closed. Beautiful sunset with the river lapping gently against the balcony. Freddie and Adrian, my two original barmen at that time were so distraught, I had to close the pub that evening due to a “family bereavement”… One of my dearest customers, artist and sculptor Nicola Toms, presented me with a treasured gift of a bronze sculpture “Max of The Grapes” – he really was such a handsome boy..

I also remember with great fondness the members of staff mentioned above. The great Henry Mackley, always in a good mood, charming and polite. I hope he went on to be a very successful man – I think he may have been studying law..?? The beautiful Katrina and Ben Knight, Australian couple travelling Europe etc. Katrina studying to be an architect and Ben an aspiring DJ – bless him… I imagine they are back in Australia now.

I was always very lucky with staff – apart from the occasional thief and one or two misogynists who didn’t like taking orders from a woman – I always had great brigades of staff in the kitchen and bar. Here I must mention the indomitable, the late Patricia Ganesh aka Mrs. Pat who was Sous Chef and chef extraordinaire Karim Azzouzi, the original catering team. My dearest Mrs.Pat lost her fight with cancer in 2008.

I am now very happily retired and often wonder how I ever had time to work – I regularly put in 120 hours per week working in the licensed trade..! I still hold Playboy Bunny Reunions (covid permitting) with the kind generosity of Jimmy and Simon Thomas, owners of The Hippodrome Casino in Leicester Square.

The Grapes has changed hands and changed completely for the latest chapter in its existence. The Stamp of Gandalf has been firmly placed by my cherished friend Sir Ian McKellen as he guides the “old boozer” through the beginning of the 21st Century. Who knows what the future will hold when the current lease runs out. A lease for 300 years granted in 1742 and due to expire in twenty years… nobody knows who OWNS the freehold. I hope I’m still around to see who may “rise from the ashes”… Barbara Haigh

My mother Sandra (Higgins) Pauling was also granddaughter to charlotte. My grandfather Victor Higgins was charlottes son. Both me and my mother still live in poplar.