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While searching for a clip of notorious marrier Queenie Watts singing in her pub (on the Jeff Lynne thread) I came across this montage of old East End pubs that I thought you might like to have a look at.
It's interesting that whoever put it on YouTube says:
"Shows a selection of pubs in the East End and greater East London area in the past and now. Unfortunatly East London is suffering from the hightest amount of pubs shutting in England. 33% of pubs have closed in the last decade. To save your local go down and have a pint... Now".
That was in 2010, I wonder how many more have shut since then?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUGyxb1Kcp8
It's interesting that whoever put it on YouTube says:
"Shows a selection of pubs in the East End and greater East London area in the past and now. Unfortunatly East London is suffering from the hightest amount of pubs shutting in England. 33% of pubs have closed in the last decade. To save your local go down and have a pint... Now".
That was in 2010, I wonder how many more have shut since then?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUGyxb1Kcp8
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10,000 pubs closed in last the 10 years. We need tax equality between pubs and supermarkets.
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i know one pub that needs shutting down
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Bito
 The Co-op have recently purchased my local, apparently to keep it out of the clutches of Tesco. They're supposed to be leasing it to some brewery or other - thankfully not them w@nkers, Marston's. |
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Very funny bito.
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bet daq after the h box
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That was a nice clip Tommy, I know very little about the East End but it's a very similar story South of the river. The amount of decent old fashioned pubs that I would go to in a 6 mile radius from me is a maximum of 5. I just want a decent pint, watch the racing and if there is a ham roll going spare then that'll keep me going. Nearly all the old good places are now flats or God forbid the dreaded gastropub. I don't want to have a pint sitting next to people eating fish and chips, chicken madras or chilli con carne with them paying West End prices for good measure. One of the best pubs near me from say 25 years ago The Paxton, order a pint, burger and chips and you'll be lucky to get much change from a score. That aside, kids running about yelling, babies screaming, pap squirting around the place, not for me thanks all the same.
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So many have closed here too it's impossible to estimate the percentage in the last ten years or so, Slippy.
The banning of smoking in pubs really was the death knell here. It's a working class area and there's far more than 25% of the population who smoke here than the national statistics show. So many old boozers shut down who had a steady clientele of locals who smoked (many of them old people) who just had nowhere to spend their time and have a bit of company any more. It's a bloody disgrace. |
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ham roll from a pub ffs, I thought all your meat was carefully sourced.
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CMAT,
Far be it for me to intrude on a private thread, but I too have some misty water-coloured memories to share of my times in London pubs (most notably from Newham), and have recounted them on the Jeff Lynne thread. |
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Slippy, there's a pub in Hanley: 'The Auctioneer' (the main town in Stoke) which would be right up your alley.
It's a 'sports' pub and has loads and loads of tellys showing all the sport that's on each day. I had a look some months ago as to which company it belonged to and it's a Northern chain (originating in Blackpool, I think) who sell booze cheap (£2.50 a pint for Carling, for instance), show as much live sport as they can, positioning themselves as close as they can to a bookies (Korals is right next door to the one in Hanley). They sell a limited amount of 'pub grub' for about 2 hours in the afternoon and about 3 hours at night. Plus, there's a big notice in the window saying children are 'not welcome'! It does for me! |
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alun2005
07 Jan 15 01:32 CMAT, Far be it for me to intrude on a private thread, but I too have some misty water-coloured memories to share of my times in London pubs (most notably from Newham), and have recounted them on the Jeff Lynne thread. Alun, I've never looked at the Jeff Lynne thread, but I shall endeavour to do so after after I have left a few notes concerning pubs, for our friend Tommy. |
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http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/04/good-pub-guide-londoners-76p-pint-more-than-herefordshire
The best part of a fiver (sometimes more) for a pint, they can fack off. Right off. It's high time they closed down and made way for some more essential industries such as estate agents, coffee shops and little Waitroses. |
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Tommy, quite a few of those pubs are/were in Newham.
I could probably name 12 more that have gone quite easily. 3 seconds in - that pub has had 3 names, The Trossachs, Raffles and Valentinos - Canning Town - converted to flats now The Anchor - Canning Town - shown as closed down on the video - but was demolished years ago The Black Lion - Plaistow - Still open - used to be home to West Ham Boxing Club, but I heard the council were going to move them on after being there for over 50 years. Denmark Arms - East Ham - still open Fox and Hounds - Forest Gate - still open Greengate - Plaistow - now a Tesco Express Green Man - Upton Park - demolished - converted to flats now Railway Tavern - Forest Gate - possibly still open, a fault on google maps street view prevents a view of it. Salisbury Arms - Canning Town - converted into flats. White Horse - East Ham - still open - got a large bar and used to be a ‘fashionable’ haunt on Saturday nights. About 100 yards away is ‘The Hammers’ pub, the one that Alf Garnett drinks in, in the film. It’s a good half a mile from the football ground  A quick google map search this morning reveals: Also gone, just in Canning Town, Custom House and Plaistow The Castle - opposite the Greengate - now a Betfred shop The Sultan - demolished The Beaconsfield - demolished The Prince Of Wales - converted to flats The Nottingham Arms - demolished - flats built in its place The Shakespeare Arms - converted to flats The Ground Rent Tavern - converted to flats The Windsor Castle - demolished to make way for the glass monstrosity that is Canning Town bus station The Chandelier - as above The Pauls Head - reduced to the outer brick shell - being converted into flats or a large house The New Gog - been boarded up for the best part of 10 years, still sitting there empty -the site is for sale - phone 0207 519 5900The Peacock - closed and demolished - rebuilt half a mile away near the Peacock Gym Custom House Working Men’s Club - demolished St Anne’s Catholic Social Club - demolished The Artful Dodger - demolished Could probably find at least another 10 that have gone. This street view shot is what‘s left of The Spotted Dog Inn, that was once the best pub and steak house in Newham and the surrounding area. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, at its best, you had to book a table three weeks in advance. It was a former hunting lodge of Henry 8th. . http://i57.tinypic.com/k17oy.jpg Joint enterprise killed off the pubs The closure of the docks The great council house sell off and the mass exodus that followed it The arrival of tens of thousands of non-drinking immigrants The smoking ban |
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The price of a pint is he biggest reason for pubs closing imo. I always supported the smoking ban, mainly as the cigarette smokers would have to go outside like we potheads had been forced to for years!
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Talking about large bars, the Blind Beggar (Whitechapel) must be enormous judging by the number of London cabbies who were in there the night Ronnie Kray shot George Cornell.
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The smoking ban was total bollocks.
Slimebag Blair stated that landlords would have a choice of going smoking or non smoking, or if the pub was large enough, having two different bars. Then the bastard banned it altogether. Who was he trying to please? The hordes of asian immigrants who don't go in pubs, or the non-smoking brigade, who were in there anyway? |
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Nice video Tommy. Unfortunately I didn't recognise any of them. Don't think there were any from Stratford, Bow or Leyton where I frequented when working/living in that area.
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I don't disagree about the anti-smoking gobsh!tes who cited it as a reason that they didn't frequent pubs, CMAT, but I do agree with the ban in general.
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The hordes of Asian immigrants is BS, though!
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Why agree with it?
What was wrong with Blair's initial stand that landlords would have a choice. If they got it wrong and lost customers, they could just switch back to whatever they wanted, whether it be smoking or non-smoking. I can't see a problem with that. |
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I did say 'in general' as I can see a case for having smoking establishments, for those who don't care about the dangers of smoking. You can't do half and half though.
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The hordes of Asian immigrants is BS, though!
There are no closed down pubs anywhere near where I live now. So that leaves him appeasing non-smokers. And as can be clearly seen, that hasn't worked. Cheap supermarket booze as well as no smoking has killed off pubs in London, and given the problems of street drinking. Perhaps he envisaged this as a way to nick a few quid from Joe public, as you can now be fined in some areas for drinking in the street, even if you're sober. |
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Whether it was Blair, Brown or Cameron, the ban was going to happen sooner rather than later.
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There's some architectural masterpieces on that video, CMAT and Rob.
I particularly liked the pub at 32 seconds in - but couldn't make out the name of it. It's such a shame they've been lost to redevelopment of pulled down. I wonder if 'The Railway Tavern(s)' were built by a railway company a century or so ago, as I know of two around here that have the same name and the exact same design as the one shown in the East End video? |
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Amazing that they're both still open, TT. Surely Stoke-on-Trent could use yet another Costa Coffee and a Tesco's Local?
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Gentlemen, I think we are ALL agreed. The Government-driven enforced closure of pubs was a disproportionate and heavy-handed method by which they could stop Queenie W doing her lunchtime pub striptease shows.
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Haha! Well, I think they're still open, Easter.
I'm sure Sparky mentioned he'd been in one of them on one of his walks on the way to Froghall last year (or the year before) but I haven't been past it for years. It looks exactly as the one in the video - right down to the paintwork (or did the last time I saw it). |
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You've hit the nail on the head, Alun!
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Queenies pub, The Iron Bridge Tavern, as it's name implies, was near the iron bridge that separates Canning Town, Newham (E.16) from Poplar, Tower Hamlets (E.14)
The Bridge House in Canning Town, a famed music venue in the 1970s, was just across the bridge from the IBT. The Bridge House was nowhere any houses, but due to 99% of the clientele being rock fans, it was known that there were drug dealers in there, and it used to get constantly raided by the police. It sits at the end of Stephenson Street, and is a hotel these days. Either side of the bridge had different licensing laws. The IBT got an extra half an hour than the Bridge House, so for those who wanted a last drink to last longer, there was a procession of half pissed pedestrians walking over the bridge between 10-30 and 10-45 p.m. to get their extra pint in. |
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Tommy Toes
07 Jan 15 13:21 There's some architectural masterpieces on that video, CMAT and Rob. I particularly liked the pub at 32 seconds in - but couldn't make out the name of it. I don't know that pub, Tommy, it's not anywhere in West Ham, and I'd guess that there weren't that many Manns houses either. Perhaps it was the restructured next pub in the video, the Bishop Of Bonner. It was up for sale at £1,495,000 but has been removed from the site. |
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http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/BethnalGreen/BishopBonner.shtml I was right. Pretty famous pub in it's day apparently. It's in Bonner Road, Bethnal Green. (Micky Flanagan territory) Where the London Chest Hospital used to sit, or still does sit. |
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It was a lovely looking pub, CMAT. Wouldn't you just love to explore the second storey?
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Blimey, what a great write up on that link of how it became a 'boxing pub' frequented by the likes of Henry Cooper and co.
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Correct Tommy. I for one will never forget the tag-team fight there between Henry Cooper and Ronnie Kray vs Wilfred Hyde-White and Robert Morley back in December '63. Morley was a little past his best by that time, but pound for pound still the best bare-knuckle man in the game. Once Wilfred had kicked the opponents in the g00l!es it was a simple matter for Morley to deliver a decent right-hander to them both to bring events to a premature close. A no-contest if ever there was one. Oh what a night indeed, as the Four Tops once sang.
Afterwards, Wilfred and Robert of course had the pick of the mini-skirted lovelies waiting for business under the lamp-posts of Newham High Street, and went off with three each to Claridges for the night. I gather that at least one of the lovelies was actually a woman too so quite a result. I've got a million stories like this from the mean streets. |
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It may have been Barking High Street come to think of it.
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hahahaha!
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Not a lot of people know this but the real guv'nor of London in those days wasn't Billy Hill, The Krays, Jack 'The Hat' McVitie or even Eamonn Andrews. No, it was JACK 'The Driver' PARNELL. Many times I've seen him go into Newham pubs and removing the contents of the till while everyone watched, to scared to respond.
Anyone who failed to pay up could expect to put in a solid 4 hours saxophone practice under his merciless gaze. Show business eh? |
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I wonder why Bernard Delfont was never mentioned in any of these old time stories.
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