Comments on: At Dirty Dick’s

By: Jacqui

Jacqui — Sun, 26 May 2024 18:03:20 +0000

I remember going into Dirty Dicks with my friend Lyn on my way to Southampton. It was quite creepy in there and I remember sawdust on the floors and dead cats up on the ceiling. There were booths for sitting down to have a drink or 2 and I pinned my photo up in one of the booths amongst hundreds of others. It was my first and last time I visited there

By: David Waskowiak

David Waskowiak — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 23:16:56 +0000

My father was an American bomber crew member during WWII. He was stationed at an airfield near Ipswich. Their weekend passes to London brought them first to Liverpool station. Their first stop was Dirty Dick’s. He spoke of it often.

By: Mari Nicholson

Mari Nicholson — Mon, 06 Jul 2020 11:06:46 +0000

Was there also a Dirty Dicks in Limehouse? I seem to remember visiting this when I first arrived in London in the early 1950’s. Chinatown then was a place where one took ‘non-Londoners’ to scare the pants off them and the Dirty Dicks I visited certainly had a frisson of danger. I was told that the dust-encrusted bottles behind the bar held the embryos of aborted babies and in mid-20th century London that was scary enough.

By: Dave Verguson

Dave Verguson — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:33:23 +0000

While showing a young Czech visitor around London in 1967 we went into the cellar bar(?) at Dirty Dicks. Seeing the coins on the bar she offered a Czech coin for inclusion. If my memory serves me right, the barman hammered it on there and then. Is it still there?

By: Ian Buker

Ian Buker — Sat, 10 Feb 2018 19:19:46 +0000

Great article. Dirty Dicks was also the first pub I went to in London. I arrived in London from Canada in 1966 on the day England won the Worlds Cup.
I have similiar black and white postcard to the coloured one you posted.
Wonderful memories of the two years I spent there.e

By: Dan Drogman

Dan Drogman — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 15:03:15 +0000

In the 1970’s I was apprenticed as a compositor at the printers, Straker Brothers, next door to Dirty Dick’s – you can see the printer’s sign in some of the pictures. We used to have a drink every Friday (payday) in the downstairs ‘dive’ bar. The dead and mummified cats were still on the wall then. One of them was the ‘Lucky Cat’ which you were supposed to stroke three times for luck. On the third stroke the barman would pull a hidden wire behind the bar and the cat would ‘jump’ scaring the stroker – much to the amusement of those in the know.
I had my ‘Bang Out’ (end of apprenticeship) celebratory drink in Dirty Dick’s and was so drunk on all the tots of rum that had been bought for me that when it was time to leave I got to the top of the steep staircase and passed out but was caught by my colleagues otherwise I would have fallen back to the bottom and probably wouldn’t be here to tell the tale today.
For any ‘fashionistas’ reading this blog the shop to the right of Dirty Dick’s in one of the pictures is S & J Reiss the men’s outfitters that went on to become the Reiss fashion empire.

By: miss c hardy

miss c hardy — Wed, 03 May 2017 13:58:37 +0000

there was a dirty dicks in chester during 2nd world war where my mother drank with friends while working at western command.Was it copied from spitalfields ?does any one else remember the place.

By: paul Johnson

paul Johnson — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 21:47:56 +0000

My dad was in the army in 1947 and drank in the cellar bar and also got free food for him and his three mates in the cafe above dirty dicks then revisited it in 1960 with my mother during their honeymoon,can anyone tell me what happened to the cafe?.

By: Peter Webb

Peter Webb — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 18:24:51 +0000

Hi I know Dirty Dicks from way back in 1960’s. We used to go in there on out way to white heart lane on match days. Also my father Bert Webb was bar manager there in the 1950’s. I still have a couple of items telling story of Dick.
Peter Webb

By: Richard Howland-Bolton

Richard Howland-Bolton — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 16:35:39 +0000

the link to my piece got eaten so lets see if this works
http://www.howlandbolton.com/essays/read_more.php?sid=464