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Thread: Whitechapel, Liverpool Street

  1. #1
    Spritzer Swallower Manky Badger's Avatar
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    Default Whitechapel, Liverpool Street

    Hi

    Advice please.... Next week a friend is leading us on a "Jack the Ripper" tour around parts of London where Jack did his thing. We're starting in Whitechapel and ending at Liverpool Street.

    This is all utterly unexplored territory to me - are there any "must visit" pubs in the area?

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    Waterborne Beer Inspector Bucking Fastard's Avatar
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    I would strongly advise a visit to The Pride of Spitalfields in Heneage Street off Brick Lane.Genuine boozer,well kept ales but can get busy after work .

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    We're not really 'ere! trainman's Avatar
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    Pride of Spitalfields seconded. Hoop & Grapes (Aldgate High St) is pretty good, closed weekends. Crosse Keys, a large 'spoons on Gracechurch St is one of the chain's finest, with ~20 beers on tap. A bus from Liverpool St stn would take you to Old St for The Old Fountain, or train Liv.St. to Hackney Downs (7mins) for Pembury Tavern, very plain interior but good selection of Milton Ales plus guests. When in Whitechapel it may seem churlish not to pay a quick visit to the Blind Beggar (Krays & all that) but it would not be a destination pub without the (old) notoriety; there's also a Kray connection at Carpenters Arms, Cheshire St (a few mins north of Pride of Spitalfields) - I was led there by the mention of Dorothy Goodbody ales, but they were only by bottle (from £4!).

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    This Space For Hire Rex_Rattus's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Manky Badger View Post
    Hi

    Advice please.... Next week a friend is leading us on a "Jack the Ripper" tour around parts of London where Jack did his thing. We're starting in Whitechapel and ending at Liverpool Street.

    This is all utterly unexplored territory to me - are there any "must visit" pubs in the area?
    Respected colleagues have already identified the best pubs. As an aside - you are bound to be in Brick Lane at some stage, so if curry is your thing this is definitely the place to stop for lunch, as there are many decent restaurants in this road.

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    The Beerhunter. RogerB's Avatar
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    The Ten Bells (84 Commercial Street) is the best known pub in the Ripper story as his first victim was drinking in there the night she was murdered. The pub is very grubby but does have some magical tiling that would have been there since the JtR days. The nearby Still & Star (1 Little Somerset Street - by the bus station near Aldgate station) is worth a look and would have undoubtebly been one of Jack's locals.

  6. #6
    Real Ale Drinker
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    Two decent pubs very close to Liverpool Street station are the Magpie and the White Hart. These are both Nicholson's houses that are well run and keep a good choice of ales. The Magpie always has Timmy Taylor Landlord on and the White Hart has eight handpumps with regular guests. Beware though they may not be open weekends (although I think the White Hart opens saturdays at least).
    Similarly other pubs in this area are likely to be closed at weekends. The Still & Star recommended by Roger (seconded by me) will almost certainly be shut weekends.

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    In Search of Ebriety Millay's Avatar
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    If you are in need of a Shepherd Neame fix you could try the White Swan on Alie St between Aldgate East and Aldgate. Of the two near Aldgate tube I’d favour the Still & Star over the Hoop & Grapes. Of the two near Liverpool St tube I’d favour the Magpie over the White Hart. Also opposite the main entrance to Liverpool St station you have a decent Young’s pub called Dirty Dicks. The Hamilton Hall (JDW) on Liverpool St Station has recently been getting a better selection of beers in but as previously mentioned the best JDW is the Crosse Keys on Gracechurch St.

    If you get the chance I’d second Trainman’s recommendation of getting a bus to Old St, I think the end of the 135 bus line drops you right near the Old Fountain. You can also walk to the Wenlock Arms from there. For real ale these two will beat all the other pubs mentioned.

    Enjoy the trip and try to set up a pub crawl and post a link to it once it’s over.

  8. #8
    This Space For Hire Rex_Rattus's Avatar
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    I've had a further think about this one MB. If you're starting at Whitechapel you're almost certainly going to walk round to Durward St for the site of JTR's first certain victim - Mary Anne (Polly) Nicholls, murdered in what was then Buck's Row. A bit to the East of Whitechapel Station there is the Blind Beggar pub, which also has Kray connections. This is where Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell, who was a member of the rival Richardson gang. Of course referring to Ronnie Kray as a fat poof probably didn't do much to improve his career prospects! I have to say that it's not much of a pub though.

    Just to the West of Whitechapel Station is a sari shop (No 259 Whitechapel Rd I think) which is where Joseph Merrick, known as the Elephant Man, was put on display to the paying public until he was rescued by a doctor from the London Hospital opposite. If you end up walking west down Whitechapel Rd (which you might if you're heading for the murder site of Elizabeth Stride) you might spot the Whitechapel Bell Foundry on the other side of the road. This is almost certainly the oldest bell foundry in the world ,and is where both Big Ben and America's Liberty Bell were cast. Further towards Aldgate you would come to Gunthorpe St. Your friend might take you here, as it is the murder site of Martha Tabram, who some argue might well really have been JTR's first victim. On the corner of this st, which actually only looks like an alley from the Whitechapel Rd end, is the White Hart pub. This pub would undoubtedly have been known to JTR, and although it's not the best pub in the world, I have been in many worse ones, and last time I poked my nose in they had a couple of real ales on. I wouldn't go far out of my way to visit it, but if you happened to be passing.......

    The whole area is rich in history, having been home to many of London's immigrants down the years - the Huguenot silk weavers fleeing persecution, Jews, and now Muslim Bengalis. There is a building on the corner of Hanbury Street (where at No 29 Annie Chapman was murdered - the building no longer exists now) and Brick lane that has been a church, a synagogue, and now a mosque. If tou walk along Fournier St (which you might as it is between the Ten Bells pub and Hanbury St) you will see the architecture and frontage of houses that testify to their Huguenot heritage. There's more of course - Spitalfields market, Hawksmoor's Christ Church, but I doubt whether you will have time to do everything. As well as other pubs mentioned, there is the Dispensary (for some reason Ive not been in there but I understand that it has decent ale selection) in Leman St - the street in which was the police station where the on-the-ground hunt for JTR was undertaken.

    I offer this in case you are interested in the general character of the area. I too would be intersted to hear what you did do and see, and of course the pubs you visited, in due course.

  9. #9
    The Beerhunter. RogerB's Avatar
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    There is also Sidney Street where the famous siege occured in 1911.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Sidney_Street

  10. #10
    I'll stay on me own Gann's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RogerB View Post
    The Ten Bells (84 Commercial Street) is the best known pub in the Ripper story as his first victim was drinking in there the night she was murdered. The pub is very grubby but does have some magical tiling that would have been there since the JtR days. The nearby Still & Star (1 Little Somerset Street - by the bus station near Aldgate station) is worth a look and would have undoubtebly been one of Jack's locals.
    Yes, second Rogers input. The official Ripper tours visit here and as Roger says its worth a visit for the surviving tiles alone. But try to avoid drinking here and on all accounts avoid using the toilets..
    Work is the curse of the drinking Class - Oscar Wilde

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