Antony Cairns’ East End Pubs
When – in the midst of my photographic odyssey around East End watering holes – I discovered Antony Cairns‘ series of pub portraits, I realised I had found a kindred spirit. His soulful photographs manage to record the death and evoke the life of these lost hostelries simultaneously.
An East Ender who studied photography at the London College of Printing in the nineties, Antony printed these intriguing pictures using the Van Dyke Brown process which was commonly used at the end of the nineteenth century when these pubs were in their prime.
The Albion, Bow Common – (1881-2005)
The Railway Arms, Sutton St – (1881-2001)
The Conqueror, Austin St/Boundary St – (1899-2001)
The Rose, Woolwich
The Flying Scud, Hackney Rd – (1874-1994)
The Crown & Cushion, Market Hill, Woolwich – (1840-2008)
The Victoria, Woolwich Rd, Charlton – (1881-?)
The Tidal Basin, Canning Town – (1862-1997)
The Marquis of Lansdowne – (1838- 2000 & now to be restored)
Photographs copyright © Antony Cairns
You may also like to take a look at
Alex Pink’s East End Pubs, Then & Now
Wonderful photos. Valerie
I always look expectantly hoping to see my family’s defunct pubs – no luck this time! But another different look at buildings and social institutions that were so much a part of East End life. Thank you for sharing, GA.
Antony’s use of the Van Dyke Brown process put the past lives of these ghosts of pubs in the picture.
Beautiful prints.
I thoight the “Crown & Cushion” had re-opened, or am I mistaken?
In the meantime – try the “Camel” in Globe Road?
Rather sad images but I am so pleased they have been captured.
In most of these photos, the pub seems to be the sole survivor of a lost community. The last building still standing in a sea of rubble. I think the saddest looking building is the Victoria on Woolwich Road. It’s difficult to imagine now the life that went on inside those buildings… Very sad.