The Alphabet Of Lost Pubs D-G
Rather a classy selection this week, including plenty of dukes and earls, as we travel from D-G in the second part of my series of The Alphabet of Lost Pubs. This phantom pub crawl is presented in collaboration with Heritage Assets who work in partnership with The National Brewery Heritage Trust, publishing these historic photographs of the myriad pubs of the East End from Charrington’s archive for the first time.
The Dartmouth Arms, 162 Bidder St, Canning Town, E16 (Opened 1816, rebuilt 1939, closed 2013 and now a nightclub)
The Dew Drop Inn, 22 Brydges Rd, Stratford, E15 (Opened prior to 1874, closed in 2011 and is now demolished)
The Duke of Edinburgh, 17 Jultand Rd, Plaistow, E13 (Opened prior to 1872 and closed in 2010)
The Duke of Gloucester, 26 Seabright St, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1839 and now demolished)
The Duke of Gloucester, 154 Pitfield St, Hoxton, N1 (Opened prior to 1834 and now demolished)
The Duke of Lancaster, 21 John St, Kinsgland Rd, E2 (Opened prior to 1872 and now demolished)
The Duke of Sussex, 94 Goldsmith’s Row, Haggerston, E2 (Opened prior to 1842, now called The Albion)
The Duke of Wellington, 63 Brady St, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1859, closed in 2002 and demolished in 2008)
The Dunstan Arms, 50 East Rd, City Rd, N1 (Opened prior to 1839 and now demolished)
The Durham Arms, 24 Stephenson St, Canning Town, E16 (Opened prior to 1855, badly damaged by enemy action on 20th March 1941, reopened 2nd December 1948, closed in 2015 and now open again)
The Eagle, 157 Chobham Rd, Stratford, E15 (Opened prior to 1859 and open today)
The Earl Amhurst, 19 Amhurst Rd, Hackney (Opened prior to 1870 , demolished in 2004 and now an office block)
The Earl of Aberdeen, 118 Bridport Place, Hoxton, N1 (Opened prior to 1856 and now demolished)
The Earl of Beaconsfield, 211 Grange Rd, Plaistow, E13 (Opened prior to 1878, damaged by enemy action on 6th January 1941, reopened on 20th June 1941, closed 2002 and demolished 2007)
The Earl of Essex, 107 Sceptre Rd, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1891 and now demolished)
The Essex Brewery Tap, 2 Markhouse Rd, Walthamstow (Opened prior to 1859, closed in 2006 and now a fitness club)
The Ferndale, 40 Cyprus Place, Beckton, E6 (Opened prior to 1886, closed 2006 and now residential)
The Old Five Bells, 535 Old Ford Rd, E3 (Opened prior to 1826 and now demolished)
The Fleetwood Arms, 85 Pritchards Rd, Hackney Rd, E2 (Opened prior to 1869 and now demolished)
The Flower Pot, 43 Old Bethnal Green Rd, E2 (Opened prior to 1872, rebuilt 1908 and now offices)
The Forester, 15 Arline St, Hackney Rd, E8 (Opened prior to 1872 and now demolished )
The Fountain, 86 Jamaica St, Stepney, E1 (Opened prior to 1848, closed 1934 and now demolished)
The Fountain Tavern, 436 Mile End Rd, Stepney, E1 (Opened prior to 1833, changed name to La Luna in 2004 and demolished in 2010)
The Fox, 81 Boleyn Rd, Stoke Newington, N16 (Opened 1866, demolished 1938)
The Freemasons’ Tavern, 61 Howard Rd, Stoke Newington, N16 (Opened 1866, demolished 1959)
The Gardeners Arms, 103 York Hill, Loughton (Opened prior to 1848 and open today)
The George & Dragon, 13 Beech St, Cripplegate, EC1 (Opened prior to 1796 and now demolished)
The Gibraltar Tavern, 28 Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1750 and now demolished)
The Gladstone, 129 St Leonards Walk, Poplar, E14 (Opened 1869, closed 1962 and now demolished)
The Golden Anchor, 221 St John St, Clerkenwell, EC1 (Opened prior to 1811, closed in 1919 and now demolished)
The Goldsmiths’ Arms, 1 Albion Buildings, St Bartholomew Close, EC1 (Opened prior to 1796, closed in 1921 and now demolished)
The Gosset Arms, 11 Gosset St, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1856, closed 1990 and now residential)
The Grange Tavern, 6 Richmond Rd, London Fields, E5 (Opened prior to 1866, demolished and replaced by flats in 2001)
The Green Dragon, 123 Well St, Hackney, E9 (Opened prior to 1732 and closed in 1956, now demolished)
The Grosvenor Arms, 33 Mountmorres Rd, Stepney, E1 (Opened prior to 1839, closed in 1944 and now demolished)
The Gunmakers Arms, 15 Eyre St Hill, Clerkenwell, EC1 (Opened prior to 1848 and open today)
The Gunmakers Arms, 51 Solebay St, Mile End, E3 (Opened prior to 1836 and now demolished)
Photographs courtesy Heritage Assets/The National Brewery Heritage Trust
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Paul Gardner 2/8
My pal Paul Gardner, fourth generation proprietor of Gardners’ Market Sundriesmen, Spitalfields oldest family business since 1870, is featured in this short film by Imogen Farrell, Joshua Kwan & Alice Lees
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Gardners Market Sundriesmen, 149, Commercial St, Spitalfields, E1
Follow Paul Gardner on twitter @gardnersbags
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At Gardners’ Market Sundriesmen
Joan Rose at Gardners’ Market Sundriesmen
James Brown at Gardners’ Market Sundriesmen
The Fish Plaice
This is the time of year when my thoughts turn to fish & chips, so I must take this opportunity to recommend my favourite establishment in the East End for such traditional fare, The Fish Plaice
Around three is a good time to visit the Fish Plaice in the Cambridge Heath Rd, between Whitechapel and Bethnal Green. By then the lunchtime rush is over and you have the chance of a leisurely chat with Andy & Nitsa, the couple who have run this place together since 1974 – as I did recently, when I took the opportunity to slip behind the counter and see life from the other side of the fish fryer. I discovered it was an ideal place to spend an afternoon on an occluded October day, watching the passersby with their noses set towards Whitechapel and greeting regulars who were seeking consolation in fish cakes and saveloys for a year that is not quite working out as it should.
Over time, all manner of private jokes and rituals have evolved here. “The police want to speak with you, Andy,” called Nitsa casually through the curtain of plastic ribbons when I arrived, as she had done countless times before. And then Andy came out and introduced himself with an eager smile, “I’m Andy, everyone knows me as Andy, my dad was Andy,” – just in case there was any confusion. And when Beryl, a regular customer of thirty-eight years standing, arrived with the greeting, “Got a fish cake?” and asking “Are the chips fresh?”, Andy turned aside with a twinkle in his eye and adopted a loud stage whisper, saying,“Give her the old ones, Nitsa! – which filled Beryl with speechless delight.
Be informed, this is not a fancy fish & chip shop. The decor has not been updated since they opened nearly forty-five years ago, yet this only adds to the appeal – because it is immaculately clean and cared for, which makes it a place where everyone feels welcome. “Look at this!” exclaimed Andy, taking his bare hand, and – inexplicably – reaching under the fish frier, before – alarmingly – appearing to rub it upon the floor and then – in a theatrical coup – holding it up jubilantly to reveal an entirely clean hand.
Andy knows as much about fish & chips as it is possible to know, because fish & chips are his culture and his life.“My father had a fish & chip shop in Salmon Lane and we lived over the shop.” he explained, “All the family were in fish & chips, my uncles all had shops. I used to clean potatoes first thing in the morning and help out again after school.”
“Sometimes, I used to get up at four and go with my dad to Smithfield Market to get chickens.” he continued fondly, “Then he’d take me down to Billingsgate Fish Market in the City where we’d meet all his brothers and uncles buying fish, and afterwards he’d take me for a good breakfast in a workmen’s cafe and we’d be back by seven in the morning.”
Yet before he opened up this shop with his wife Nitsa, Andy tried other careers. He trained in motor engineering, and became ladies hairdresser in Whitechapel, off Commercial St – “It was all slums down there in those days.” Next he became a driving instructor and worked at Plessey in electronics too. “You do some crazy stuff when you are young!” he informed me, in authoritative verdict upon these trivial early diversions before he settled down to a lifetime of fish & chips.
“All my family are in restaurants, but I had no clue about fish & chip shops until I met, Andy,” admitted Nitsa with a flirtatious laugh,“By now, we are a good team. When we come in the morning, we know exactly what to do and we do it in no time.”
“I do all the heavy stuff, filleting fish, mixing the batter and chipping, while Nitsa prepares the fryer,” added Andy, “She’s as quick as two people serving, three of my cousins came down to help out once and they couldn’t keep up with her.”
As will be self-evident by now, Andy & Nitsa have very high standards, priding themselves on the superlative quality of their fish & chips which are keenly priced. Nitsa fried me a piece of cod in batter with chips, and it was creamy with a good chewy batter. As I sat in the corner enjoying my late lunch, Andy explained The Fish Plaice is the closest fish & chip shop to the site of London’s first ever fish & chip shop, that opened in Cleveland Way – just round the corner – where Russian Jewish immigrants had the idea to serve both fried fish and chips together from the same shop in the nineteenth century.
“We like it,” admitted Andy, turning contemplative and catching Nitsa’s eye for a shared smile while I concentrated on my lunch, “We’ve been doing it so many years. We love it when when people come back, because it means they appreciated what they had.” All three of us sat together, enjoying the quiet of the afternoon in the empty shop and watching the ceaseless parade outside moving back and forth between Whitechapel and Bethnal Green.
“It’s a nice trade, fish and chips.” conceded Nitsa with a soulful smile, sitting with her arms crossed, casting her blue eyes around the shop where they spent the last forty-two years and speaking out loud to herself, “We are happy here. The people are very nice and most of the customers are our friends. You always ask after everybody’s families.”
Nitsa fries me a piece of fish in batter
Andy – “All my family were in fish & chips”
Nitsa, widely known amongst the customers as “Aunty” and “Mammy”
The Fish Plaice, 86 Cambridge Heath Rd.
Markéta Luskačová’s Street Musicians
Markéta Luskačová has been taking photographs in Spitalfields since 1975 and it is my great pleasure to present this selection of East End pictures from her new book, TO REMEMBER – London Street Musicians 1975-1990 which has an introduction by John Berger and is published next week with a launch and signing at Camden Arts Centre on Wednesday 2nd November from 7:30pm. All are welcome.
Brick Lane, 1978
Bishopsgate, 1980
Commercial St outside Christ Church, 1979
‘The first street musician I ever met was at the horse fair in the West of Ireland on a cold autumn day in 1973 – an old man playing a violin between the horses. It was like an epiphany. A few years later I started to live in London close to Portobello Rd Market. Street musicians played there frequently and the feeling of being in the presence of something precious stayed with me. The street musicians themselves were often quite lonely men, yet their music lessened the loneliness of the street, the people in it and my own loneliness.’ Markéta Luskačová
Commercial St outside Christ Church, 1987
Cheshire St, 1990
Cheshire St, 1982
Yard off Cheshire St, 1986
‘It takes me back eighty years to my childhood (in the thirties), when I was disturbed and spellbound by the street musicians I passed and stopped to listen to and watch. The word play had a double-sense for me. They played instruments or they sang in the street in the hope of getting money, survival money, from the passersby. And I played games in order to escape and feel that I was elsewhere.’ John Berger
Cheshire St, 1979
Cheshire St, 1976
Cheshire St, 1979
Cheshire St, 1979
Cheshire St, 1979
Photographs copyright © Markéta Luskačová
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Last Days At Hiller Brothers
For years, I longed to visit Hiller Brothers, the last barrow workshop in the East End, at 64 Squirries St, Bethnal Green, but – until yesterday – I had to content myself with peering through a tiny glass panel in the metal shutter each time I passed to wonder at the piles of old wooden barrows within.
The last of the Hiller Brothers, Bob, left here in 1991 when the workshop was let to tenants who carried on the work of repairing and maintaining barrows. Then, earlier this year, Bob Hiller died and now the building has been sold for demolition and redevelopment. Within a matter of weeks the workshop must be cleared out, which means that I was able to pay a visit at last to view the barrows for sale.
Hiller Brothers began manufacturing and hiring barrows in the eighteen-sixties at 67 James St on the other side of Bethnal Green, moving to these premises in 1942 which they bought from Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists who opened it as their East End office in 1933.
The history of Hiller Brothers is all there to be read in the addresses carved onto the side of the barrows in elegant italic letters. From outside on the street, all that is visible is a non-descript rendered house with a battered door and two squat windows, and a tall metal shutter screening off the adjoining yard. Once you go inside and step down into the workshop, you realise it is a nineteenth century building. From the workshop, a side door leads into the cobbled yard which was once a cowshed, now piled high with dozens of costermongers’ barrows and beyond lies a pile of hundreds of steel-rimmed handmade wooden wheels, each with lettering incised into them.
It is an overwhelming vision, the graveyard of lost barrows in last days of the last barrow-maker in the East End.
Hiller Brothers as it once was
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A Walk Through Roman London
Roman London is still under construction
From Spitalfields, you have only to walk down Bishopsgate to find yourself in Londinium, since the line of Bishopsgate St follows that of Ermine St which was the major Roman road north from London Bridge. Tombs once lined the path as it approached the City, just as they did along the Appian Way in Rome.
The essential plan of the City of London was laid out by the Romans when they built their wall around Londinium at the end of the second century, after Boudica and her tribes burnt the settlement. Eighty years earlier, the Romans had constructed a fort where the Barbican stands today and, in their defensive plan, they extended its walls south to the Thames and in an easterly arc that met the river where the Tower of London stands now.
A fine eighteenth century statue of the Emperor Trajan touts to the tourists at Tower Hill, drawing their attention to the impressive stretch of wall that survives there, striped by the characteristic Roman feature of courses of red clay tiles, inserted between layers of shaped Kentish Ragstone to ensure that the wall would be consistently level.
Just fifty yards from here at Cooper’s Row, round the back of the Grange City Hotel, is an equally spectacular stretch of wall that is off the tourist trail. Here you can see the marks of former staircases and medieval windows cut through to create a rugged monument of significant height.
Yet, in the mile between here and the Barbican, very little has survived from the centuries in which stone from the wall was pillaged for other buildings. It is possible to seek access to some corporate premises with lone fragments marooned in the basement, but instead I decided to walk over to All Hallows by the Tower which has a little museum of great charisma in its crypt. Here is part of the tessellated floor of a Roman dwelling of the second century and Captain Lowther’s splendid model of Roman London from 1928.
At the Barbican, a stretch of wall that was once part of the Roman fort is visible, punctuated by a string of monumental bastions which are currently under restoration. Walking up from St Paul’s, you come across the wall in Noble St first, still encrusted with the bricks of the buildings within which it was once embedded. Then you arrive at London Wall, an avenue of gleaming towers lining a windy boulevard of fast-moving traffic, which takes it name from the ancient edifice.
I was lucky enough to be permitted access to a secret concrete bunker, beneath the road surface yet above the level of the underground car park. Here was one of the gateways of Roman London and I saw where the wooden gate posts had worn grooves into the stone that supported them. At last, I could enter Roman London. In that underground room, I walked across the few metres of gravel chips that now cover the ground level of the former roadway between the gate posts, where the chariots passed through. Long ago, I should have been trampled by the traffic if I had stood there, just as I should be mown down if I stood in London Wall today. We switched out the light and locked the door on Roman London to emerge into the daylight again.
In the gardens of the Barbican, the presence of foliage and grass permits the bastions of the City wall to assert themselves, standing apart from the contemporary built environment that surrounds them. From here, I turned west to visit the cloister of St Vedast in Foster Lane, which has an intriguing panel of a tessellated floor mounted in a frame, and St Bride’s in Fleet St, where deep in the crypt, you can lean over a wall to see the floor of the Roman dwelling that once stood there, reflected in a mirror. The reality of these items stirs the imagination just as their fragmentary nature challenges it to envisage such a remote world.
By now, it was late afternoon. I was weary and the sunshine had faded, and it was time to make tracks quickly back to Spitalfields as the sky clouded over – yet I was inspired by my brief Roman holiday in London.
Eighteenth century bronze statue of Trajan at Tower Hill
Model of Roman London in the crypt of All Hallows by the Tower. Made by Captain Lowther in 1928, it shows London Bridge AD 400 – Spitalfields appears as a settlement of Britons beyond the wall.
Roman City Wall at Tower Hill
At Tower Hill
At Cooper’s Row
Lines of red clay tiles were inserted between the blocks of stone to keep the wall level
Tessellated floor in the crypt of All Hallows by the Tower
Timber from a Roman wharf preserved in the porch of St Magnus the Martyr
In the cloister of St Vedast Alias Foster
In the crypt of St Bride’s, Fleet St
Foundation of a Roman Guard Tower in Noble St
Outside 1 London Wall
Part of the entrance gate to Roman London in the underground chamber
Model of the north west entrance to Roman London
A fragment of wall in the underground chamber
Bastion at London Wall
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The Alphabet Of Lost Pubs A-C
Sometimes I find myself walking the streets looking for a pub. I am seeking an enclave of civility as a refuge from the barbarity of the city, a friendly bar where the publican lives upstairs and the residents of the street congregate. I am looking for a local.
Oftentimes, in accumulating disappointment, I stand and gaze at the fine buildings which once were pubs, now closed down and converted into flats or shops, or restaurants. So you can imagine my emotion when I discovered this cherished inventory of pubs from the early twentieth century, mostly pictured in their shining moment of glory, when the signwriting was crisp, the mirrors were polished and the lamps gleamed – the beloved drinking palaces of yesteryear. You can almost hear the clink of glasses, the hubbub of voices and distant tinkle of barroom ivories.
Today I am delighted to commence a new series presented in collaboration with Heritage Assets who work in partnership with The National Brewery Heritage Trust, publishing these historic photographs of the myriad pubs of the East End from Charrington’s archive for the first time. It is no exaggeration to say that every street corner was once a pub, thus the catalogue of our loss runs into hundreds and this first instalment of The Alphabet of Lost Pubs only covers A-C.
I wish we could have enjoyed a pint together in every one. Instead we must be thankful we can go there in spirit thanks to the alluring visions conjured by these entrancing photographs, which might have vanished forever if they had not been rescued from a skip twenty-five years ago by some far-sighted soul.
The Adam & Eve, 126 Abbey Rd, West Ham, E15 (Damaged by enemy action 1st July 1944, reopened 2nd April 1948, closed 1994)
The Albert Arms, 66 Bancroft Rd, Mile End, E1 (Destroyed by enemy action 1944)
The Albion, 423 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 (Opened prior to 1870, now known as Bar Valiente)
The Albion, 33 Albion Rd, Dalston, E8 (Opened prior to 1850, closed in 2002 and now residential)
The Albion, 211-212 High St (now The Highway), Shadwell, E1 (Opened prior to 1841, closed 1922 and now demolished)
The Albion, 2 Clissold Rd, Stoke Newington, N16 (Opened prior to 1855, converted to residential use in nineteen nineties)
The Alfred’s Head, 49 Gold St, Stepney, E1 (Opened prior to 1849, now demolished)
The Alma, 41 Spelman St, Spitalfields, E1 (Opened prior to 1870, closed 2001 and now offices)
The Angel & Crown, 170 Roman Rd, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1809, rebuilt in 1951 and still open)
The Astric Lodge, 60 Stepney Green, E1 (Opened prior to 1818 and closed in 1997)
The Barley Mow, 7 New Gravel Lane, Shadwell, E1 (Opened prior to 1778, now demolished)
The Bedford Hotel, 220 Victoria Park Rd, Hackney, E9 (Built 1870, converted to residential use 1999)
The Beehive, 36 Holly St, Dalston, E8 (Opened prior to 1848, closed 1964 now demolished)
The Bell, 116 George St (now The Highway), Shadwell, E1 (Named in 1839, closed 1922)
The Benyon Arms, 155 De Beavoir Rd, Hackney, N1 (Opened prior to 1852, closed 1984 and now residential)
The Black Bull, 192 Stoke Newington High St, N16 (Opened 1826, closed 1981 and now Kentucky Fried Chicken)
The Black Horse, 168 Mile End Rd, E1 (Opened prior to 1856, closed 2010 and currently vacant)
The Blade Bone, 185 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 (Opened in 1823, destroyed by enemy action in World War II and rebuilt, then closed in 1999 and became The Noodle King now a development site for flats)
The Brewery Tap, 17 Stean St, Shoreditch, E8 (Opened prior to 1881, closed 1921 and now demolished)
The British Queen, 31 White Horse Lane, E1 (Opened prior to 1843 and closed 1934, now demolished)
The Bull’s Head, 58 St Katharine’s Way, E1 (Opened 1838, closed 1952)
The Burford Arms, 11 Burford Way, Stratford, E15 (Opened prior to 1872, closed in 1990 and demolished in 1994)
The Camden’s Head, 456 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 (Opened prior to 1816 and still open)
The Carlton, 238 Bancroft Rd, Mile End, E1 (Opened 1836 and still open today)
The Carpenters’ Arms, 151 Cambridge Heath Rd, E1 (Opened prior to 1839, rebuilt in the nineteen-sixties and still open)
The Cat & Mutton, 76 Broadway Market, Hackney, E8 (Opened prior to 1732 and still open)
The City Arms, 2 Dock Rd, Canning Town, E16 (Opened prior to 1867 and closed in 1934)
The Clapton Park Tavern, 9 Chatsworth Rd, Hackney, E5 (Opened prior to 1872, closed and converted to a restaurant in 2001)
The Colet Arms, 94 White Horse Rd, Stepney, E1 (Opened prior to 1851, closed in 2003 and now residential)
The Commercial Tavern, 142 Commercial St, Spitalfields, E1 (Built in 1865 and still open today)
The Commercial Tap, 66 Ben Jonson Rd, Stepney, E1 (Opened 1881 and closed 1934, now demolished)
The Conqueror, Boundary St, Shoreditch, E2 (Opened prior to 1872 and closed in 2007, now residential)
The Crooked Billet, 93 Hoxton St, Hoxton, N1 (Opened prior to 1841, closed 1938 and now demolished)
The Crown & Anchor, 35 Temple St, Bethnal Green, E2 (Opened prior to 1831, closure unknown)
The Crown & Dolphin, 56 Cannon St Rd, Shadwell, E1 (Opened 1851, closed 2002 and now residential)
The Crown, St John St, Clerkenwell, EC1 (Opened in 1910, closed in 1953 and now a shop)
The Crown, 19 Mayfield Rd, Dalston, E8 (Opened 1866 and closed in 1954)
The Crown, 34 Redchurch St, Shoreditch, E2 (Established late seventeenth century and renamed The Owl & The Pussycat in 1990)
The Crown, 14 Goodman St, Whitechapel, E1 (Opened in 1823, closed in 1952 and now demolished)
The Cutlers’ Arms, 2 Cutler St, Houndsditch, E1 (Opened prior to 1839, closed in the nineteen-fifities and is now demolished)
Photographs courtesy Heritage Assets/The National Brewery Heritage Trust
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