Taverns Of Long Forgotten London
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Leafing through the fat volumes of Walter Thornbury’s London Old & New is the least energetic form of pub crawl I know and yet I found I was intoxicated merely by studying these tottering old taverns, lurching at strange angles like inebriated old men sat by the wayside. Published in the eighteen-seventies, these publications looked back to London and its rural outskirts in the early nineteenth century, evoking a city encircled by coaching inns where pigs roamed loose in Edgware Rd and shepherds drove sheep to market down Highgate Hill.
White Hart Tavern, Bishopsgate
Bell Tavern, Edmonton
Jack Straw’s Castle, Hampstead
Spaniards’ Hotel, Highgate
Old Crown Inn, Highgate
Gate House Tavern, Highgate
The Brill Tavern, Somers Town
The Castle Tavern, Kentish Town
Old Mother Red Cap Tavern, Camden
Queen’s Head & Artichoke, Edgware Rd
Bell Inn, Kilburn
Halfway House, Kensington
Black Lion Tavern, Chelsea
World’s End Tavern, Chelsea
Gun Tavern, Pimlico
Rose & Crown, Kensington
Tattersall’s, Knightsbridge
Three Cranes Tavern, Upper Thames St, City of London
The Old Queen’s Head, Islington
Old Red Lion, Upon the banks of the Fleet – prior to demolition
Saracen’s Head, Snow Hill – prior to demolition
Old Tabard Tavern, Southwark – prior to demolition
White Hart Tavern, Borough
Inns of the Borough
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
You may like to take a look at other engravings from London Old & New
and more pubs
Love it! The coach has just careened into the yard and the whole cast of characters is emerging.
Stepping gingerly through puddles of overnight rain, skirts gripped aloft, buckled shoes squishing
through the straw and muck, feathered hats askew, and a flurry of pigeons and errant chickens tear out of the way. Cue the chaotic harpsichord (ting-a-ling-a-ling-a-linnnnnnnnnnnng) soundtrack of the brilliant 60s movie, “Tom Jones”. Make way at the refectory table for tankards, tea cups, platters and cutlery; elbows up on the table, raucous dialog and diatribes. Jokes passed behind hands, arched eyebrows, knowing grins and grimaces. Everyone piles back into the coach, and off they go!
These brilliant engravings have inspired a thousand stories.
Such a different world from today’s, but one that we can immediately step back in time too through these wonderful images.