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15-09-2023, 09:30
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If your unreliable TARDIS dumped you in London in 1850, where would you go for a pint?
We’ve come across an old guide book that, for once, gives a straight answer.
Peter Cunningham’s Handbook of London was first published in two volumes in 1849, then condensed into a single volume in 1850.
First, it recommends hotels, including:
“…among the old inns, the Golden Cross, at Charing-cross, and Gerard’s Hall Inn, Bread-street, Cheapside.”
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/gerards_hall.jpgThe beer and wine vaults at Gerard’s Hall via the Yale Center for British Art (https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:32372).Gerard’s Hall Inn sounds fascinating – might we, through 21st century eyes, think of it as a pub?
It doesn’t quite feel like it from what we’ve been able to read. But you certainly get a pint there.
What really interested us was a section titled ‘Breweries and Beer in London’.
First, the author first lists great breweries:
Barclay Perkins, Southwark
Meux, Tottenham Court Road
Combe Delafield, Long Acre
Whitbread, Chiswell Street
Truman, Hanbury & Buxton, Brick Lane
Goding, Lambeth
Reid, Liquorpond Street (!)
Calvert, Upper Thames Street
Elliot, Pimlico
He adds this suggestion:
“The visitor should exert his influence among his friends to obtain an order of admission to any one of the largest I have named.”
Brewers, how would you feel about a bunch of top-hatted toffs turning up at your premises for a nose around?
Then, finally, we get a list of four pubs.
Two are suggested for the “best London porter and stout in draught”:
Cock Tavern, Fleet Street
The Rainbow Tavern, opposite
And two more are those which “Judges of ale recommend”:
John O’Groats, Rupert Street
The Edinburgh Castle, Strand
The latter was famous as the founding place of Punch magazine.
Of the four, only The Cock survives.
You could go there for a pint this weekend if you wanted, although whether you’ll find any draught porter is hard to say.
The best London pubs of 1850 (https://boakandbailey.com/2023/09/the-best-london-pubs-of-1850/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2023/09/the-best-london-pubs-of-1850/)
If your unreliable TARDIS dumped you in London in 1850, where would you go for a pint?
We’ve come across an old guide book that, for once, gives a straight answer.
Peter Cunningham’s Handbook of London was first published in two volumes in 1849, then condensed into a single volume in 1850.
First, it recommends hotels, including:
“…among the old inns, the Golden Cross, at Charing-cross, and Gerard’s Hall Inn, Bread-street, Cheapside.”
https://boakandbailey.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/gerards_hall.jpgThe beer and wine vaults at Gerard’s Hall via the Yale Center for British Art (https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:32372).Gerard’s Hall Inn sounds fascinating – might we, through 21st century eyes, think of it as a pub?
It doesn’t quite feel like it from what we’ve been able to read. But you certainly get a pint there.
What really interested us was a section titled ‘Breweries and Beer in London’.
First, the author first lists great breweries:
Barclay Perkins, Southwark
Meux, Tottenham Court Road
Combe Delafield, Long Acre
Whitbread, Chiswell Street
Truman, Hanbury & Buxton, Brick Lane
Goding, Lambeth
Reid, Liquorpond Street (!)
Calvert, Upper Thames Street
Elliot, Pimlico
He adds this suggestion:
“The visitor should exert his influence among his friends to obtain an order of admission to any one of the largest I have named.”
Brewers, how would you feel about a bunch of top-hatted toffs turning up at your premises for a nose around?
Then, finally, we get a list of four pubs.
Two are suggested for the “best London porter and stout in draught”:
Cock Tavern, Fleet Street
The Rainbow Tavern, opposite
And two more are those which “Judges of ale recommend”:
John O’Groats, Rupert Street
The Edinburgh Castle, Strand
The latter was famous as the founding place of Punch magazine.
Of the four, only The Cock survives.
You could go there for a pint this weekend if you wanted, although whether you’ll find any draught porter is hard to say.
The best London pubs of 1850 (https://boakandbailey.com/2023/09/the-best-london-pubs-of-1850/) originally posted at Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog (https://boakandbailey.com)
More... (https://boakandbailey.com/2023/09/the-best-london-pubs-of-1850/)