Comments on: On The Beat With PC Lew Tassell Again https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/10/16/on-the-beat-again-with-pc-lew-tassell/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:56:38 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Peter Holford https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/10/16/on-the-beat-again-with-pc-lew-tassell/#comment-1524812 Wed, 18 Oct 2023 15:56:38 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=197518#comment-1524812 The night beat through the deserted streets is one about which my dad used to tell a story. As a young PC stationed at Whitechapel from 1936 to 1941 he was originally paired with an older long-serving PC called ‘Lofty’ Hinton. Lofty showed his new disciple which pub windows to tap on in order to get entrance and refreshment. He also showed Dad how to get a few winks of sleep while being present and correct for the sergeant who might be out and about.

Lofty knew a snooze out of sight in a churchyard was inadvisable and he showed Dad how to take his belt off and tie it again around the waist and a lamp post. This would keep you upright, well-lit under the light, and if the sergeant saw you from down the street he would be satisfied that you were doing your job.

On his first night alone Dad did as he had been shown. It was the wet knees that woke him. He had slumped down and was kneeling on the pavement. He didn’t try it again. He soon left that behind and joined CID.

The Still and Star is the last survivor (for how long?) of the pubs built by George Richard Pound, a master builder, sometime in the first two decades of the 19th century. Pound (the brother of my 3x great grandfather) built quite a number of pubs as well as other spec development across this part of London. He was from Ilminster in Somerset and all his developments were named after Somerset. He died in 1825 on Somerset Place (now Bevenden Street) in Shoreditch. He was a very wealthy man. His sons lost it all with the collapse of the Brunswick Theatre on Goodman’s Fields, Whitechapel in 1828.

Thanks, GA for all the posts which I read and seldom reply to.

]]> By: Cherub https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/10/16/on-the-beat-again-with-pc-lew-tassell/#comment-1524542 Mon, 16 Oct 2023 13:03:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=197518#comment-1524542 What a fascinating insight into City history. I hope these stories will be in a book.

]]> By: Janet https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/10/16/on-the-beat-again-with-pc-lew-tassell/#comment-1524526 Mon, 16 Oct 2023 10:54:10 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=197518#comment-1524526 Wonderful stories

]]> By: Di Corry https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/10/16/on-the-beat-again-with-pc-lew-tassell/#comment-1524513 Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:44:50 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=197518#comment-1524513 A fascinating sequel to previous posts and photographs about Lew’s nocturnal jaunts.
I’m familiar with many of the places on his past patrols and walked past The Still and Star only recently.
I’m sure Lew feels sad as most of us do, to see so many of these places disappearing, especially Liverpool Street Arcade which I used so often on my way to work.

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