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Jeffrey Johnson’s London Pubs

January 6, 2019
by the gentle author

One day Jeffrey Johnson walked into the Bishopsgate Institute, deposited a stack of his splendid photographs with Archivist Stefan Dickers and left without another word. We can only conclude that these fond pictures from the seventies and eighties record the enigmatic Jeffrey’s favourite pubs. Some are familiar, but for the locations of the others  – some of which are long gone – I call upon the superior experience of my readers.

Hoop & Grapes, Aldgate (Dentures Repaired)

Sir Walter Scott, Broadway Market

Knave of Clubs, Bethnal Green Rd

Dericote St, Broadway Market

Crown & Woolpack, St John St, Clerkenwell

Horn Tavern, Knightrider St, City of London (now known as The Centrepage)

Brunswick Arms, Upper Holloway

The Queen’s Head, City of London

The Queen’s Head, City of London

Unknown pub

The Crooked Billet, Walthamstow

Old Bell Tavern, St Pancras

Magpie & Stump, Old Bailey

The Mackworth Arms, Commercial Rd

Red Lion in Whitechapel Rd

Green Man

Green Man

Marquis of Anglesey, Ashmill St

The Crooked Billet

The Bull’s Head (Landlords fight to save City pub), Bishopsgate

The White Horse, Little Britain

The Olde Wine Shades, City of London

The Crispin, Finsbury Avenue

The Blue Posts, West India Dock Rd, Limehouse (Plasterer’s Required – Call at Back Door)

The Ticket Porter, Arthur St, City of London

Weavers Arms

Photographs copyright © Jeffrey Johnson

You may also like to take a look at

The Pubs of Old London

The Taverns of Long Forgotten London

Antony Cairns’ East End Pubs

Antony Cairns’ Dead Pubs

Alex Pink’s East End Pubs Then & Now

The Gentle Author’s Pub Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Next Pub Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Spitalfields Pub Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Dead Pubs Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Next Dead Pubs Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Wapping Pub Crawl

The Gentle Author’s Piccadilly Pub Crawl

10 Responses leave one →
  1. Jonathan Madden permalink
    January 6, 2019

    These are incredible, some pubs I know most I don’t, the Hoop and Grapes is still there of course. I have been painting and documenting some of the more recent dead pubs, mainly in the East End over the last couple of years, they can be viewed on my Instagram page @madden.london, I would like to get some decent copies of the original photos if it’s all possible. Thanks for a great post.

  2. Jill Wilson permalink
    January 6, 2019

    These photos have a very similar feel to Doreen’s paintings!

  3. Dave R permalink
    January 6, 2019

    Superb. Remember many of these from the late 70s and 80s – particularly nostalgia-inducing to see the Queen’s head on Black Friars Lane (sic) as it ran into Ludgate Broadway, and the Green Man on that keenly missed city street, Bucklersbury. Thanks for a glimpse back to the days of the Double Diamond.

  4. Helen Breen permalink
    January 6, 2019

    Greetings from Boston,

    GA, Jeffery Johnson was a man of few words, but he obviously mourned the passing of these institutions from the streets of London. So sad …

  5. Mary permalink
    January 6, 2019

    What a wonderful record, but very sad to see that even back in the 1970s and 80s there seemed to be mass demolition. I wonder if the landlords managed to save The Bull’s Head – it looked a very old pub.

  6. Kevin adams permalink
    January 6, 2019

    Great pictures

    I lived in Dericote Street and can remember the building derelict like this for years . It was then converted into flats and just before completion a big fire destroyed it. Work began again and is now residential.

    The building was never a pub from the beginning

    It was used in a tv show or film starring David Mcallum when it was changed to look like a tube station.

  7. Claire permalink
    January 6, 2019

    How very sad that most of these appear derelict and closed. For what reason have all these pubs been unable to carry on as thriving businesses? I am in Montreal so I do not know what the background is to this trend; where do people now go to spend a few hours with their buddies?

  8. Sheila O'Connell permalink
    January 7, 2019

    You can see the German Gymnasium beyond the Old Bell Tavern, St Pancras. Amazing change in such a short time.

  9. January 7, 2019

    Marvellous.

  10. Marcia Howard permalink
    January 7, 2019

    Many a sad sight captured here with all those boarded up pubs, but what an AMAZING collection of photographs. Sorry I can’t help identify some of the unknown ones.

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