The Gentle Author’s Wapping Pub Crawl
Four-hundred-year-old stone floor at The Prospect of Whitby
Tempted by the irresistible promise of bright January sunlight, I set out for Wapping to visit those pubs which remain in these formerly notorious riverside streets once riddled with ale houses. Yet although there are pitifully few left these days, I discovered each one has a different and intriguing story to tell.
Town of Ramsgate, 288 Wapping High St. The first alehouse was built on this site in 1460, known as The Hostel and then as The Red Cow from 1533. The pub changed its name again, to the Town of Ramsgate, in 1766 to attract trade from Kentish fishermen who unloaded their catch at Wapping Old Stairs adjoining. Judge Jeffreys was arrested here in disguise, attempting to follow the flight of James II abroad in 1688, as William III’s troops approached London.
The Turk’s Head, 1 Green Bank. Originally in Wapping High St from 1839, rebuilt on this site in 1927 and closed in the seventies, it is now a community cafe.
Captain Kidd, 108 Wapping High St. Established in 1991 in a former warehouse and named after legendary pirate, Wiiliam Kidd, hanged nearby at Execution Dock Stairs in 1701.
Turner’s Old Star, 14 Watts St. In the eighteen-thirties, Joseph Mallord William Turner set up his mistress Sophia Booth in two cottages on this site, one of which she ran as an alehouse named The Old Star. In 1987, the current establishment was renamed Turner’s Old Star in honour of the connection with the great painter. Notoriously secretive about his lovelife, Turner adopted Sophia’s surname to conceal their life together here, acquiring the nickname ‘Puggy Booth’ on account of his portly physique and height of just five feet.
The Old Rose, 128 The Highway. 1839-2007
The last pub standing on the Ratcliffe Highway
The Three Suns, 61 Garnet St. 1851 – 1986
The Prospect of Whitby, 56 Wapping Wall. Founded 1520, and formerly known as The Pelican and The Devil’s Tavern.
What does a cat have to do to get a drink around here?
Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from The Prospect of Whitby in 1533 upon his ill-fated attempt to discover the North-East Passage to China.
The Grapes, 76 Narrow St. Founded in 1583, the current building was constructed in 1720 – it is claimed Charles Dickens danced upon the counter here as a child.
Anthony Gormley’s sculpture visible from the balcony of The Grapes
You may like to read about my previous pub crawls
The Gentle Author’s Next Pub Crawl
The Gentle Author’s Spitalfields Pub Crawl
Billy & Charley’s Curious Leaden Figures
“Curious leaden figures discovered at Shadwell” read the shameless announcement published in the ‘Illustrated Times’ of February 26th 1859, placed there by George Eastwood, eager dealer in the works of Billy & Charley, two East End mudlarks turned forgers who succeeded in conning the London archaeological establishment for decades with their outlandish and witty creations.
These fine examples of Shadwell shams from the collection of Philip Mernick fascinate and delight me with their characterful demeanours, sometimes fearsome and occasionally daft – inspiring my speculative captions which you see below.
Witch doctor
Telephonist
Blood-thirsty
Indignant
Hookah pipe
Popish
St Peter
Bemused
Listening
Aghast
Weary Conqueror
Surly Knight
CURIOUS LEADEN FIGURES DISCOVERED AT SHADWELL
Announcement by George Eastwood, Billy & Charley’s dealer, published in the Illustrated Times, February 26th, 1859
A very considerable addition has been made during the winter to the singular leaden signacula found at Shadwell, which were the subject of a trial at Guildford. They are now on view at Mr. George Eastwood’s, Haymarket, where they have been inspected by some of the most experienced antiquaries, who, while they one and all concur in asserting the perfect genuineness of these remarkable objects, do not fully agree in explaining the purpose for which they were made. Upon one point there is no dispute, and that is, that the figures date from Queen Mary’s time, and were probably used in religious processions. Some of the badges resemble the earlier pilgrims’ signs.
The centre figure shown in the illustration we give of these additions to archaeological science, is that of a king holding a sword in his left hand and with the other pointing downward. The head is surmounted by a crown, the hair is long and flowing, the beard square in form and the face altogether bears great resemblance to the effigies seen on some of our early Saxon coins. To the right of this figure is another, evidently a bishop, judging from the mitre which he wears – the dress is apparently extremely rich in ornamentation. Immediately in front of thisfigure stands a smaller one, also of an ecclesiastic, but having no inscription on its base like the others. Again, in front of this another mitred statue holding a scepter of globular form at the top and dressed in robes of costly material. To the left are two well-formed bottles with handles, the lesser one having winged figures around the body. The larger one has also figures upon it and a foliated pattern. To the left of the king, who forms the centre of our group, stands a female figure, in not very graceful attitude, bearing a scepter in one hand and having the other resting on her hip. The remainder are but repetitions, to a great extent, of those already described and require no further explanation.
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Steve Speller’s Redchurch St Portraits
Photographer Steve Speller moved to Redchurch St in 1986 and lived there until 1991. “It was a time of change with old trades moving out and young creatives, like myself, moving in but when the Truman Brewery shut in 1989, I realised it was all going to go and so I took these portraits,” Steve recalled.
Living these days in Worthing, Steve returned for the first time last November after more than twenty years and was startled to discover the transformation, with both artisans and artists replaced by high-end retail – now that Redchurch St is London’s most fashionable shopping destination.
Aaronson Veneers, 45 Redchurch St
Maison Trois Garcons, 45 Redchurch St
Mr Aaronson in his veneers shop, 45 Redchurch St
Interior of Maison Trois Garcons, 45 Redchurch St
Photoshoot outside the former printing works at 44 Redchurch St where Steve Speller lived.
Aesop, 44 Redchurch St
The Owl & The Pussycat, 34 Redchurch St
The Owl & The Pussycat, 34 Redchurch St
City Cash & Carry, 40 Redchurch St
Walluc Bistrot, 40 Redchurch St
City Cash & Carry, 40 Redchurch St
Ron’s Cafe, 36 Redchurch St
Chaat, Bangladeshi Teahouse, 36 Redchurch St
Robsinson’s Engineering, 7 Redchurch St
Sunspel, 7 Redchurch St
Capital Leather, 46 Redchurch St
Murdock, 46 Redchurch St
Capital Leather, 46 Redchurch St
Nigel Ellis, Sculptor, Chance St
Former location of Nigel Ellis’ studio, Chance St
Les, handyman at 44 Redchurch St (in employ of Roy Bard, property magnate who bought half the street)
Tim Cunliffe, Stained Glass Artist, 44 Redchurch St
Carnival Novelties, Redchurch St
Merlin, Artist, 44 Redchurch St
Foremost Grinders, Redchurch St
Photographs copyright © Steve Speller
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Whitechapel’s Theatrical Terrace
As one of Whitechapel’s most appealing architectural features faces imminent threat of demolition, I tell the forgotten story that lies behind these extravagant facades in Vallance Rd.
3-13 Vallance Rd
Just last week, when I was writing about the artist Morris Goldstein who lived at 13 Vallance Rd, I was reminded of the distinctive quality of this unusual Victorian terrace in Whitechapel. Despite all the changes since World War II, these old shops have survived and the exoticism of their architecture with its strange mixture of styles fascinates me – as it does many others for whom the terrace is also a landmark in this corner of the East End, where so few old buildings remain to tell the story of what once was here.
In fact, I realised these tatty shopfronts and ornate facades have always spoken to me, but only recently have I discovered the nature of the story they were telling. The florid decoration was no whim upon the part of the architect but reflected their association and direct proximity to the adjoining Pavilion Theatre which opened here early in the nineteenth century, at first presenting nautical dramas to an audience from the docks and later becoming a Yiddish theatre to serve the Jewish population in Whitechapel.
Commanding the southern extremity of Vallance Rd, this terrace is almost the last fragment to remind us of the history of one of the East End’s most ancient thoroughfares, linking Bethnal Green and Whitechapel. Built in 1855, the vast and forbidding Whitechapel Union Workhouse once stood a few hundred yards north. In common with most of the nineteenth century buildings in this corner of what was known as Mile End New Town, it has long gone – swept away during the decades following the last war, leaving the streetscape fragmented today. Old Montague St, leading west to Commercial St and formerly the heart of the Jewish commerce in the East End, was entirely demolished.
Even Whitechapel Rd, which retains good sweeps of historic buildings – many of which are now under restoration as part of a Heritage Lottery Fund project – suffered major post-war casualties, including a fine eighteenth century terrace west of the London Hospital that was demolished in the seventies. Yet there was one building of great importance of which the loss went seemingly unnoticed -The Pavilion Theatre, a favourite resort for East Enders for nearly one hundred and fifty years before it was demolished in 1961.
The New Royal Pavilion Theatre opened in 1827 at the corner of Whitechapel Rd and Baker’s Row (now Vallance Rd) with a production of The Genii of the Thames, initiating its famous nautical-themed productions, pitched at the the maritime community. In 1856, the theatre burnt down and its replacement opened in 1858, boasting a capacity of three-thousand-seven-hundred, which was a thousand more than Covent Garden and included the largest pit in London theatre, where two thousand people could be comfortably accommodated.
‘The Great National Theatre of the Metropolis’ – as it was announced – boasted a wide repertoire including Shakespeare, opera (it became the East London Opera House in 1860) and, of course, pantomime. It gained a reputation for the unpretentious nature of its patrons, with one critic remarking “there is a no foolish pride amongst Pavilion audiences, or, as far as we could see, any of those stupid social distinctions which divide the sympathies of other auditoriums.”
In 1874, the Pavilion was reconstructed to the designs of Jethro T. Robinson, a notable theatre architect who designed two other East End theatres. both of which are now lost – the Grecian Theatre in Shoreditch and the Albion in Poplar, that was oriental in style. It was this rebuilding of the Pavilion which included the construction of a new terrace on Baker’s Row with interwoven Moorish arches evoking the Alhambra. The theatrical design of these buildings, with decorated parapets, panels and window surrounds, and the integration of side entrances to the theatre suggest the authorship or influence of J. T. Robinson himself.
In its later years, the Pavilion became one of the leading theatres in London, offering Yiddish drama, but as tastes changed and the Jewish people began to leave, the audience declined until it closed for good in 1934. In ‘East End Entertainment’ (1954) A. E. Wilson recalls a final visit to the old theatre before it closed.
“Once during the Yiddish period I visited the theatre. What I saw was all shabbiness, gloom and decay. The half-empty theatre was cold and dreary. The gold had faded and the velvet had moulted. Dust and grime were everywhere. And behind the scenes it was desolation indeed. The dirty stage seemed as vast as the desert and as lonely. I realised that there was no future for the Pavilion, that nothing could restore its fortunes, that its day was over.”
The decline of the Pavilion had been slow and painful. After the theatre closed in the thirties, it was simply left to decay after plans to transform it into a ‘super cinema’ failed to materialise. Bomb damage in the war and a fire meant that when a team from the London County Council’s Historic Buildings Division went to record the building in 1961, they found only a shell of monumental grandeur. After the theatre was finally demolished in 1961, the northern end of the terrace was also demolished leaving just number 13 (the former Weavers Arms Pub) and the battered row that has survived to this day.
Astonishingly, this last fragment of the Pavilion Theatre complex – numbers 3-11 Vallance Rd are now under threat of imminent demolition. Apparently learning nothing from the mistakes of the past, Tower Hamlets Council intends to clear the site for a new ‘landmark’ building as part of its masterplan for the area. Yet Whitechapel does not require more large-scale office and residential development at the expense of its traditional streetscape with small shops and historic character.
The Council is claiming that the terrace in Vallance Rd must be demolished – even though it is in a Conservation Area – because it poses a threat to public safety, yet the Council is the owner of the buildings and is earning rent from number 11 which is still occupied. Conveniently, it was the Council’s own surveyor who claimed the buildings are unsound and, subsequently, they have denied access to an independent structural engineer commissioned by the East End Preservation Society. Meanwhile the Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, which has previously restored structures in a far worse state of decay, has written to the Council offering to take on the job of repairing the buildings.
In the spirit of high theatrical farce, the Council’s consultant writes of the buildings in the Vallance Rd terrace in 2013 the Heritage Report, accompanying the application for demolition, that ‘… [they] do not contribute to the character or appearance of the Conservation Area’ directly contradicting the Council’s earlier Conservation Area appraisal of the area in 2009 which gives the following priority for action – “Encourage sympathetic redevelopment of gap sites west of Vallance Rd and secure restoration of 3-11 Vallance Rd.”
5 & 7 Vallance Rd, showing decorative window surrounds and parapet (Alex Pink)
9 & 11 Vallance Rd. With its decorative central panel, number 9 leads through to a courtyard where the theatre’s carpentry workshop once stood (Alex Pink)
3 Vallance Rd with original shopfront (Alex Pink)
Looking north over Vallance Rd (left) and Hemming St (right), 1957 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Whitechapel Union Workhouse in Vallance Rd, at junction with Fulbourne St, 1913 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Whitechapel Union Workhouse, Vallance Rd 1913 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Corner of Vallance Rd and Hereford St, 1965 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Bricklayers Arms, Vallance Rd and Sale St, 1938 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Old Montague St and Black Lion Yard, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Old Montague St and Kings Arms Court, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Old Montague St looking east with Pauline House under construction, 1962 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
The first Royal Pavilion Theatre in Whitechapel, 1856 (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1867, nautical drama was a speciality at the Pavilion (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1854 (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1835 – note reference to gallery entrance in Baker’s Row (Vallance Rd) (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1856 (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1833 (East London Theatre Archive)
Playbill 1851 (East London Theatre Archive)
The Great National Theatre of the Metropolis’ – the rebuilt Pavilion, 1858
Plan of the Pavilion in eighteen-seventies showing how the houses in Baker’s Row (Vallance Rd) are integrated into the theatre
The Pavilion as a Yiddish theatre in the thirties
Pavilion Theatre facade on Whitechapel Rd, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Auditorium of Pavilion Theatre, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Pit and stage at Pavilion Theatre, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Fly tower of Pavilion Theatre, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Back wall of the Pavilion Theatre, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
17-29 Vallance Rd, showing the large scene doors entrance and gallery entrance beyond, all integrated into the terrace, 1961 (City of London, London Metropolitan Archives)
Sketch of the elevation of the Oriental Theatre, Poplar High St, by Jethro T. Robinson, 1873 – note usage of the arch-within-an-arch motif as seen in the Vallance Rd terrace
How the terrace could look if restored (Graphic by Nick Pope)
Elevation of the terrace as it could look after restoration (Graphic by Nick Pope)
Tower Hamlets Council’s vision for the future of Whitechapel
New photographs of Vallance Rd Terrace © Alex Pink
You have until Tuesday 14th January to click here and object to the demolition of 3-11 Vallance Rd
Follow the East End Preservation Society
Facebook/eastendpsociety
Twitter/eastendpsociety
Click here to join the East End Preservation Society
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The East End Preservation Society
The Launch of The East End Preservation Society
Richard Dighton’s City Characters of 1824
Fat cats in the City of London are nothing new as these elegant cartoons of Regency bankers by Richard Dighton that I discovered in the archive at the Bishopsgate Institute testify.
Images courtesy Bishopsgate Institute
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Three Lantern Shows & Two Courses
It is my pleasure to announce another three lantern shows presented in collaboration with Bishopsgate Institute in which Spitalfields Life Contributing Photographers show their pictures and discuss their work with Archivist Stefan Dickers. Additionally – if anyone fancies new endeavours for 2014 – places are available on my writing course How To Write A Blog That People Will Want To Read in the first weekend of February and, in March, Rosie Dastgir & Kate Griffin, with guest Clive Murphy, are hosting How to Write Your First Novel.
Spitalfields Market, 1990
In the last year of the Spitalfields Fruit & Vegetable Market before it moved in 1991, Mark Jackson worked in partnership with Huw Davies, visiting nightly to record the life of the ancient market in vibrant black and white photographs. The result is a unique social record of more than four thousand images which are now preserved in the Bishopsgate Archive.
Photograph copyright © Mark Jackson & Huw Davies
Butchers, Spitalfields 1966 -”I had just finished taking a picture next door, when this lady came out with a joint of meat and asked me to take her photograph with it.”
Born in Plaistow in 1944, John Claridge photographed the people and the world he grew up in before they vanished forever. Characterised with affection and humanity, and distinguished by a distinctive graphic sensibility, his remarkable canon of photography is perhaps the largest created by anyone in the East End in the sixties.
Photograph copyright © John Claridge
Kids in Spitalfields in the nineteen-eighties
Following the publication of his new book BRICK LANE by Spitalfields Life Books on 3rd April, Phil will be showing a selection of his dramatic photographs taken over the last thirty years telling the story of volatile social change on one of Britain’s most celebrated streets.
Photograph copyright ©Phil Maxwell
HOW TO WRITE A BLOG THAT PEOPLE WILL WANT TO READ
Spend a weekend in an eighteenth century weaver’s house in Spitalfields and learn how to write a blog with The Gentle Author. This course will examine the essential questions which need to be addressed if you wish to write a blog that people will want to read.
“Like those writers in fourteenth century Florence who discovered the sonnet but did not quite know what to do with it, we are presented with the new literary medium of the blog – which has quickly become omnipresent, with many millions writing online. For my own part, I respect this nascent literary form by seeking to explore its own unique qualities and potential.” – The Gentle Author
COURSE STRUCTURE
1. How to find a voice – When you write, who are you writing to and what is your relationship with the reader?
2. How to find a subject – Why is it necessary to write and what do you have to tell?
3. How to find the form – What is the ideal manifestation of your material and how can a good structure give you momentum?
4. The relationship of pictures and words – Which comes first, the pictures or the words? Creating a dynamic relationship between your text and images.
5. How to write a pen portrait – Drawing on The Gentle Author’s experience, different strategies in transforming a conversation into an effective written evocation of a personality.
6. What a blog can do – A consideration of how telling stories on the internet can affect the temporal world.
SALIENT DETAILS
The course will be held at 5 Fournier St, Spitalfields on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February from 10am -5pm. Lunch catered by Leila’s Cafe and tea, coffee and cakes by the Townhouse are included within the course fee of £250. Accommodation at 5 Fournier St is available upon enquiry to Fiona Atkins fiona@townhousewindow.com
Email spitalfieldslife@gmail.com to book a place on the course.
Staffordshire dogs copyright © Rob Ryan
HOW TO WRITE YOUR FIRST NOVEL
Have you ever wondered how to find the story you want to tell?
Spend an inspirational weekend in an eighteenth century house in Spitalfields in the company of successful first-time novelists and explore how to write your novel. A two day course on how to begin writing your first novel, comprising a blend of talks by novelists, Rosie Dastgir (author of A Small Fortune) and Kate Griffin (author of Kitty Peck & the Music Hall Murders) with guest writer Clive Murphy, alongside practical exercises and discussion.
We suggest participants bring along an idea that they would like to pursue and, over the weekend, we’ll discuss and develop your work, and suggest possible approaches.
COURSE STRUCTURE
1. How Do You Get Started? Writing every day, learning to write without inhibition and finding a voice. Discovering your subject and researching it. We’ll offer a choice of writing prompts to get people moving forward with their ideas.
2. What Are The Elements of Writing Fiction? We’ll give a brief survey of narrative voice and point of view, and look at showing versus telling, intuition versus structure, and plot versus story.
3. Where Do Characters Come From? Are they born or made? How do you invent plausible characters? Drawing on examples in literature and working with practical exercises, we’ll address the elusive business of creating character.
4. Writing Dialogue. Finding your characters’ voices. How do you make characters distinctive from one another? We’ll show ways – with practical exercises – to inject life into your characters’ sentences.
5. Personal Stories. Why are so many first time novels autobiographical? How do you fictionalize your material? We’ll look at some first novels and see what works.
6. Our Practical Experiences Of Writing A First Novel. Strategies for finding an agent, getting a publisher – the pitfalls, highs and lows.
SALIENT DETAILS
The course will be held at 5 Fournier St, Spitalfields on Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd March from 10am -5pm. Lunch catered by Leila’s Cafe and tea, coffee and cakes by the Townhouse are included within the course fee of £250. Accommodation at 5 Fournier St is available upon enquiry to Fiona Atkins fiona@townhousewindow.com.
Email spitalfieldslife@gmail.com to book a place on the course.
Rosie Dastgir, author of A Small Fortune
Kate Griffin, author of Kitty Peck & the Music Hall Murders
Clive Murphy, Poet, Oral Historian & Author of three novels – Summer Overtures, Freedom For Mr Mildew & Nigel Someone
Portrait of Kate Griffin copyright © Colin O’Brien
So Long, Clerkenwell Fire Station
Last day at Clerkenwell Fire Station
Photographer Colin O’Brien & I made a return visit yesterday to visit our friends, the firefighters of Clerkenwell, on their last working day before the closure of Britain’s oldest fire station after one hundred and forty-two years. They invited Colin to come and take their photographs as a dignified record of this long-awaited day that everyone hoped would never come.
In fact Colin had joined White Watch, one of four watches at the station, for their last night shift earlier this week photographing their final roll call and the communal nocturnal meal they all share, which on this occasion was termed “The Last Supper.” When we arrived yesterday, we found the station busy with activity as the firefighters made their preparations for departure, clearing out personal lockers and removing moveable fixtures, such as the hefty snooker table that a team of men were manhandling from the basement.
We took this opportunity as our last chance to seek the wartime graffiti up in the roof that we heard had been left by a firewatcher seventy years ago. Climbing up through the senior officers’ quarters, unoccupied for decades, we emerged onto a high balcony at the rear of the station with views across to the City beyond and the natural advantage of this location was immediately apparent, upon the peak of the rise at Mount Pleasant.
From here, another ladder led us into the loft and the clamour of the city receded to a distant drone as we searched the roof space for graffiti. Little has changed up there, and finding ‘TOM SAYERS WATCHING FOR FLYING BOMBS 25/6/1944’ written in pencil upon a beam brought the past closer to us, as if we might have climbed the ladder, opened the roof hatch and entered that June night of 1944. Yet time was running out at the fire station and we descended back to ground level, where the business of the hour awaited us – the taking of the final group portrait of the firefighters.
In spite of the melancholy timbre of the day, we found them ebullient and even playful so it was only when I found myself standing in Rosebery Ave, with the firefighters lined up in front of two fire engines outside the station as Colin took the photo, that I realised the enormity of the event. Traffic slowed down, drivers honked their horns in tribute and passers-by stopped in their tracks.
Commonly when I am on assignment with a photographer, no-one pays any attention but from the reactions of those in Rosebery Ave, I realised that everyone knew what was going on and stood in wonder at the sight or they drew out their phones to record it for themselves – because it was a moment in the history of London we were all witnessing, as the closing of the oldest fire station was recorded at the time of the closure of ten fire stations across the capital.
Once the photos were done, I joined Captain Tim Dixey in his office for a few last words and his statements were characteristic of the stoicism we encountered in the face of the circumstances of that day. “It’s a sad day when the beautiful old station closes, but it’s all over now, the decision has been made and we’ve got to move on,” he admitted with admirable restraint, explaining that his watch start work next day at Islington Station which will be their new home. “Come and join us for a cup of tea, if you are passing,” he suggested, extending a friendly hand.
Today at 9:30am the final watch ends at Clerkenwell Fire Station.
Loft at Clerkenwell Fire Station with ladder leading to Fire Watchers’ Station from WWII
TOM SAYERS WATCHING FOR FLYING BOMBS 25/6/1944
Tim Dixey takes the last Roll Call for White Watch at Clerkenwell Fire Station
The firefighters of White Watch
Merrick Josephs & Scott Thorpe
Merrick Josephs & Mandy Watts
Henry Ayanful & Scott Thorpe
Greg Edwards cooks supper
The Last Supper at Clerkenwell Fire Station
Tim Dixey prepares to leave for a call-out
The firefighters of White Watch outside Clerkenwell Station on the last day of operations 8/1/2014
Photographs copyright © Colin O’Brien
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