Thank you for the suggestion! I had been to the more well known places in this video before (the Hoop and Grapes and Wilton's Music Hall) but the Princess of Prussia and Brown Bear came directly from your recommendations and were new to me. Much appreciated!
A long time ago in another life I worked for a company called Sedgwick. I was based in Witham but I had course to meet the actuaries who were based in Aldgate. Needless to say I know all of these pubs very well and often had the misfortune of missing my stop back home due to checking my eyelids for gaps. Keep up the good work!
One of the best pub crawls going is from Aldgate East down Leman St. to the three in Wapping High St. The Brown Bear is great, richly enhanced by the Watford scarf behind the bar. I had no idea it was so venerable, but is certainly a geezers pub. Wilton's is jaw-dropping, and a lovely spot for beer and lunch in the summer. An honourable mention should also go to The Oliver Conquest in Leman St, which is, hopefully still, a gin bar serving 200-300 gins. It also serves wine and a couple of beers on handpump. Thanks for the video highlighting a great area for pubs.
Thanks Stuart! I had been to this neck of the woods before for the famous places (Hoop & Grapes and Wilton's Music Hall) but all the others were new to me. The Brown Bear really has a lot going for it! It sounds like there are still more places for me to discover in that area as well.
This might very well be a new height for Tweedy Pubs. It must have taken days to research this, especially The Hoop and Grapes mystery. Fascinating stuff and always good to see a pre-18th Century building in London. Wonderful minutiae in these videos - I give you canary trading - and well done for resisting the RU-vid temptation of going large on the Ripper! Some nice looking pubs here. I found the Princess of Prussia particularly appealing. The Brown Bear looked good, but I imagine it might be one of those pubs where a tweed-clad, fedora-wearing antiquarian could find himself getting a pasting quite easily. The music hall looked fantastic, and yes, there was something very “Venice” about it. With productions of this quality, it’s not going to be long before you get an approach from the mainstream media! Don’t trust them, Tweedy!
Thanks Mr WC21! Yes I really went a bit overboard in terms of time spent researching the Hoop and Grapes - about three days! I went a bit mad at one point and read the 1769 London directory from start to finish. A surprising number of turkey merchants! I visited the London Metropolitan Archives in person to see that original document from 1782. Quite frustratingly, you can request to take photos of the documents they hold, but they make you fill out a rather officious form (and pay £7 for the privilege!) to promise that the image is only for your own personal research, and you won't reproduce it anywhere. It feels a bit strange to me as surely copyright expires after 100 years, and this isn't a document they as an organisation created in the first place. That record was such a pivotal part of the pub's history that I was desperate to show it on screen, so I had to get creative and make my own mock up of it. Yes a tea bag was involved! Similarly the old sign of the business from the era when it was Christopher Hill was something I'd seen in a London Picture Archive photo, but those photos (despite, again, being over 100 years old) are all watermarked and I'd have to pay an extortionate fee to use them in a video, far in excess of whatever income I might make from the ads. So I made my own recreation of it in Google Docs! I'm really pleased with that segment around 3:00 where (my fake version of) the old sign is blended onto the new sign. Yes the canary trading was a delightful find, and I was glad of having something so I could quickly move on from the Whitechapel Murders, which I really didn't want to get into too much. I find the fascination with that sorry episode of London's history a bit unsavoury, personally. I agree, the Brown Bear was one of those pubs where I felt a bit like I was intruding! I was lightheartedly referred to by one of the geezers using a word that rhymes with banker. I was standing in the way at the time, being a nuisance and taking photos (I did ask permission behind the bar first!). He said it in a breezy, casual sort of way and was smiling at the time so I don't think any serious ill will was meant. Perhaps it was even a term of affection? A bit like in Soho's famous Colony Room, the proprietor Muriel Belcher would refer to people she liked with a word that sounds not unlike "country". Although apparently if you got into her bad books she'd drop the "y", and you knew then you were in trouble. Thanks for the kind words about the production quality - still plenty of room for improvement though!
@@TweedyPubs those Cockneys of old loved a bit of turkey! Crazy about those copyrights, but I did very much enjoy your recreations. Going to the trouble of using teabags - astonishing commitment to authenticity! The fade to the old sign on the pub was RU-vid gold and the mainstream media outlets should take note! Excellent coding on the profanities in your response. I have correctly identified the words to which you refer. It made me wince a bit with the guy who called you a “banker” - I know from bitter experience - how easily those situations can turn nasty in London!
@@WC21UKProductionsLtd So far at least it has generally been OK as long as I ask behind the bar first if it's OK to take photos - in those "geezer pubs" it's generally pretty quiet and the locals are often listening in so if anyone had any objections I'm fairly sure they'd make their feelings known! As I think we may have discussed before on that Holloway pubs video I think most pub regulars are quite proud of their pub, and as long as I say a few nice words about it then generally it works out fine.
Fallen in love with this channel and your content from over here in the USA, I have visited London only a couple of times but may I suggest you should do pub tours! Might be exhausting and not lucrative though but I really enjoy learning abou the details and history and you are a fine presenter
When I moved to London in 1997, the Princess of Prussia was next door to work (Co-op Bank HQ), so spent many a lunch-time in there. In those days there was a pool table in what looks like the back bar area now, so a bit of a layout change as it seems it is gone now.
Hello John. Thank you for the wonderful eclectic and photogenic collection of pubs. Love the descriptions, especially that of “a proper geezers pub”. Finishing at Wilton’s was inspired. Definitely added to my ever growing list of “must visit”. Looking forward to the next one already. Take care. 👏👏👍😀🍺
Thanks Andrew! I did this video in a slightly back to front way so at the point I introduced Wilton's Music Hall and said it wasn't a pub I hadn't yet done the history research - I felt very vindicated for including it when I discovered that it was indeed originally a pub! I'm not any kind of theatre buff, but I think it's a very atmospheric spot.
Great to see you covering this area. I used to work in the City, and I used to love coming in to work on a Sunday morning when these pubs used to serve (in some cases) cockles and seafood on the bar around lunchtime. I wonder whether this tradition still exists at all - otherwise you might end up having to go as far as Leigh on Sea to the pubs there for your seafood and beer....
I had a cheeky East End pub crawl in January, started in whitechapel and worked our way back to city via Aldgate and Spitalfields, Excellent channel thank you Tweedy!
Another wonderfully educational and entertaining video. Of the lot, I’ve only had the pleasure of visiting the Princess of Prussia where I had a surprisingly delectable beef stir fry with several Guinness pints. A fun pub which I highly recommend! Thank you for the video!
I do hope to attend a performance at Wilton’s some day. I’ll be back in London in August/September and with a bit of luck maybe Tom Carradine will be performing one evening. He periodically haunts Mr. Foggs Tavern in Covent Garden on certain Thursday evenings. Cheers and best of luck!@@TweedyPubs
Thanks again- I used to get to London quite often but since the Interwotsit, not so much and being now retired and living in the wilds of Snowdonia I've forgotten what I knew of London geography; would it be possible to preface your next video with a modern map showing -say-the nearest mainline station or even the river bridges ? That would help us Joskins living in the sticks to -maybe-plan a visit.
Another fascinating tour around some historic pubs. The work you put in and the historic detail is remarkable. I also love your general style of upbeat bonhomie. Ive no idea how some of these geezers pubs make money, but its great to see them still around. Thanks Tweedy.
Thanks Rob, much appreciated! I went a bit mad making this video, going down the rabbit hole of trying to pin down dates for the Hoop & Grapes - when will I learn? That way madness lies!
Thank you. I love the mix of history and beer and general bonhomie. You could consider coming to Amersham for the 5 pubs in historic Old Amersham in the Chilterns; I would be very happy if you do.
Hi John, fantastic research on each of them, well done. I liked the appearance of Wiltons and can see what you mean about Venice. There were numerous listed pubs but only one of them was listing .... just as well the neighbouring buildings are keeping it afloat!! A great crawl, well done!!
Thanks David! I really like that: listed vs listing. The building immediately to its side is believed to be of a similar age, and it looked to me like that was a bit straighter. I can't help but wonder if all those centuries of booze might somehow have had a detrimental effect!
@@davidberlanny3308 That's a fantastic suggestion - a multi-day investigation which would require me to camp down there, and subsist entirely from whatever victuals I might find close to hand.
@@TweedyPubsIt sounds like you may need to be down there sometime .... I would recommend borrowing some of those barrel taps from the Star and Garter ... to hold your groundsheet down of course!! This may need to be a team effort.....
Thank you! Was it really different from the others? I hope the format isn't getting too repetitive! On this one I ended up pouring a disproportionate amount of time into researching the history of the Hoop and Grapes and I felt in hindsight perhaps I didn't do some of the other pubs justice on that front... It's not an area of London I know very well actually so I was learning about the local history as I went along. I think my favourite random discovery was the Brown Bear being a hub for canary trading! Who would have guessed?
Thanks Barry! Yes that was a bit of an odd reference wasn't it? Would have made more sense had I been in a part of London which sounded at least a bit like Kansas - Camden perhaps?
Thank you, a really interesting delve into history. I particularly liked the story of the music hall/bar/pub and also the evident research effort you put into the Hoop and Bunch of Grapes.
Thanks Chris! I really appreciate you noticing the research effort for the Hoop and Grapes bit, I probably spent the equivalent of three working days down that rabbit hole this week! I became a bit obsessed and read the 1769 directory of London from start to finish in the hope of finding some earlier records. Madness! There probably are better things I could have done with my time but I'm quite pleased with that small contribution to the field of pub history research - I couldn't find any other sources with clear documentary evidence for the business prior to 1805, and other sources seem to suggest the name "Hoop and Grapes" was only applied to the premises from 1920 - yet there it is in black and white (well, a sort of tea stained yellowish colour) all the way back in 1782.
07:10 The German cognate for sugar baker is Zuckerbäcker. The German word has a different meaning, however. It means a candy maker rather than a sugar refiner.
Great research! All interesting pubs, but like the look of Princess of Prussia for a drink and the Wilton for a tour, including the theater section. Wonderful break!
Thanks L&J! Yes I liked the atmosphere in both of those places - the Princess of Prussia a very cosy old fashioned pub, and Wilton's perhaps a sort of living museum in a way - but not in a bad way! The bar staff at Wilton's gave me the impression they were all students and I found something reassuring/uplifting in the way people probably 25 years younger than me were interacting with and appreciating this historic space.
Another informative video thank you. The hinged bar is probably to facilitate a food service area at certain times. This is still a practice in more modern bars. The bar flops down to create space for Bain Marie or similar.
Many thanks. I enjoy the depth of research. I even check out the granite before I go in the pubs now, but failed to get friends interested Ha Ha. their loss.
😂 Thank you, that is great to hear! Of course we have Ruth Siddall to thank for all the hard work there. I've definitely become a bit granite obsessed as a result of making these videos, once you start noticing it you see it everywhere!
Great video Tweedy. I used to work for Sedgwick opposite the Hoop and Grapes then for the same company further along Whitechapel High Street. I have been to all the pubs mentioned apart from the Music Hall that I didn't even know existed. I particularly remember the Hoop and Grapes where the smoke used to just hang there in a layer of smog. I was sad to see that another favourite very old pub, the Still and Star at Aldgate Bus Station has been recently demolished.
Thanks Ken! I hope the video brought back some good memories of your former haunts. I think Wilton's Music Hall was derelict / abandoned for some period of time - so perhaps during your time working in the area there was nothing there to visit? Sorry to hear about the Still and Star - I have a feeling I did go there once, briefly, many years ago. Losing pubs like that is always a bit like a bereavement.
I worked in Aldgate for 25 years (late ‘70s, ‘80s & ‘90). I’ve been to many pubs in the area, but I don’t remember going into the Brown Bear. The Castle would’ve been interesting for you to visit. It’s on the corner of Alie Street and Commercial Road (the corner where the two roads meet used to be informally called Doyle’s Corner, after the landlord of many years, John Doyle). Prior to that, the pub used to be owned by Frank Maloney before he was a boxing promoter (now Kellie Maloney). I remember Frank as short guy behind the bar and noticing all the boxing photos on the pub walls, and thinking it’s proper east end. It wasn’t a particularly nice pub, fortunately it improved a great deal under John Doyle’s stewardship.
Thanks Paul! Yes I did have a drink at the Mahogany Bar, I just unfortunately forgot to take an appropriate video clip to cover it. They had Adnam's Ghost Ship on the sole working hand pump (alas too grapefruity for me, but it was encouraging that they had hand pumps at all), so I instead went for Adnam's Stout off the keg taps. I don't thunk I've had that before, it was pleasant enough.
@@TweedyPubs Nice one! No, I agree about the Ghost ship!! Too flowery! As you say, good that they have a real ale available! On a completely different note, I think you’d like a pub called The Fleece. Bretforton near Evesham. Owned by the national trust! Beautiful place 👌 I know it’s a bit out of your territory, but worth a visit if you’re ever in that neck of the woods 👍 Sorry, gone on a bit there!!🗣️All the best mate!
Thanks Tweedy for the amount of research you put into these videos. It has a way of turning what at first glance might come across as an ordinary boozer into something so much more interesting. For example, at The Swan when you mentioned (Dr) Helmcken, I thought well that name rings a bell, turns out I am very familiar with that name as I live in Victoria, British Columbia and the Helmcken name is everywhere here, streets, parks, buildings etc.. from the very man himself. I was not expecting that bit of historical connection. Cheers from BC!
Thanks Kevin - I really hoped when I was recording that bit about Dr Helmcken that somebody might indeed be watching from BC! I only read a bit about him but he sounds like a great man - and from such humble beginnings.
Thanks Tweedy - Incidentally your Pubs channel is a great go to for which pubs to hit when we are back in London next May. Love Tweedy Outdoors as well! @@TweedyPubs
Hurray for heading East. I'm looking forward to Whitechapel, etc. I do appreciate when you tell us the cost of the beer which was missing from this one. Cheers.
Hopefully more to follow from the East End! Sorry about the lack of beer prices this time, I went down a ridiculous multi-day rabbit hole researching the history of the Hoop & Grapes and by the time I came to the final edit I was a bit worn out! I'll post the prices in a comment later on today if I remember.
@@TweedyPubs Thanks. How do you research? Are the old documents digitized online enabling you to do word searches, or do you have to visit various archives in person?
@@fifteen8 Mostly online, but I do also have a shelf full of pub related books, and on this occasion I also went to the London Metropolitan Archives in person because I wanted to see the original 1782 Sun Fire Office record for the Hoop and Grapes.
Hi John There were many Sugar makers/refiners in the Whitechapel area. These were mainly German operated. Hence the number of Germans in the area at the time, even having their own church just off of Whitechapel High St.
Thanks a lot for another great video! Excellent history and background information. I do hope viewers appreciate all the time and effort needed to put these videos together. PLEASE, SUBSCRIBE. This man deserves many more subscribers.
Tweedy with quite a few gems here, an intrepid sortie in an area that saw many visits from me over the years up until the overzealous redevelopment that occurred leading up to the 2012 Olympics. As a result, the area fell into my disfavor but Tweedy has given it new life and purpose in my mind now. And what exactly is wrong with a "geezers pub?" Lol.
Thanks Al! I am grateful to the viewer who suggested to head to this neck of the woods, as it made for an interesting afternoon out, and although I already knew the famous places (the Hoop and Grapes and Wilton's), both the Princess of Prussia and the Brown Bear were new to me. "Geezers pubs" absolutely have their rightful place in the pub ecosystem and long may they remain! As I was busying myself being a nuisance and taking all the shots of the interior (I did ask behind the bar first if that would be ok) one of the regulars was called over by another regular, and the first guy said "alright I just need to get round this (word that rhymes with banker)". He had a big grin on his face and I took it as good natured banter but it was a reminder that there's a certain kind of pub where the regulars just want it to be a community pub, not a tourist attraction. I do completely get their point! ...and yet obviously here I am making videos about pubs and sharing them with the world... A bit of a conflict there!
Nice detail about the history of the pubs, thanks for that. But you could spend more time talking about the beers available and perhaps the breweries that produce them. After all, the main reason for going to a pub is to drink good beer. The building could be as historic and attractive as you like, but if it has a poor selection of beers what's the point of going?
This is a channel about pub history. I do usually include a quick note about the beer selection at each pub, but that changes constantly in most places - if somebody watched this video a year from now it might be a completely different set of beers on offer, so the information wouldn't be useful. It might not even be the same a week from now. I don't think I'm the right person to do detailed beer reviews as I have quite specific tastes - as I often mention in these videos I don't like all those American style IPAs with Citra/Cascade hops, for example. The great thing about RU-vid is there's the potential for lots of different people to cover the same topic, and focus on different aspects of it. Hopefully there are other people out there doing pub reviews which are more about the beer!
Like the Holloway video the other day, they can often be hidden gems, but not always the easiest pubs to film in! Quite understandably the locals don't always take too kindly to an idiot in a tweed suit getting in their way and taking photos of everything! I do plan on covering more of the East End in the next few videos, so hopefully one or two more "geezer pubs" if I can manage it without getting defenestrated!
Great research and excellent collection of pubs to. Never been to the Princess of Prussia but often saw it from the train window and hoped to go there. Excellent finish with the Wilton;s Music Hall, might have mencheiond when it was in it;s ay day the bar was frequented by sailors and prostitutes who lined the narrow staircase as shown.
Princess Victoria's son was Kaiser Wilhem II, the oldest of Queen Victoria's 42 grandkids. He turned out to be a jerk to say the least. He had Erb's Palsy injury during his birth and underwent a lot of desperate surgeries without anesthesia at the behest of his mom to correct things for which he did not like his mom. So we can blame the obstetrician for causing WWI and WWII.
Yes it's still a bit hard for me to grapple with the fact that WW1 was effectively a war between cousins - and I suppose WW2 was a knock on consequence of that.
At least up to the time of Queen Victoria's later years, he tried to show that he was a loyal grandson to her and his various aunts and uncles. He also enjoyed sailing with the Royal Yacht Squadron. But he rubbed the Royal family the wrong way at times. I think though he made the snark, as the King's fellow famed yachtsman, Sir Thomas Lipton, was not an aristocrat, said Edward VII sails "with his grocer".@@TweedyPubs
Brilliant site takes me back to my travels around London pubs as a young guardsman in the 80s. Think you should revisit Westminster loads of hidden gems over that side .
