Hammersmith Pubs: Historic pubs along the riverside in West London
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- Опубликовано: 25 июл 2024
- By popular demand, I explore the pubs of Hammersmith in West London, focusing here on some well known watering holes along the river, most of which are popular spots to watch the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race.
At the Dove I try to get the bottom of how that famously small public bar room came about, and I wonder how you tell when a pigeon is melancholy? Did James Thomson write "Winter" at the Dove? We also meet a member of the royal family who had a house next door just for smoking in. As one does.
At the Black Lion we wonder if the purportedly 400 year Chestnut Tree in its garden is featured on a 1746 map? We discuss how a pub ghost story set a nearly two century long legal precedent, and learn how Sir Alan Herbert first satirised divorce law in a novel, then became an MP and went on to reform it.
At the Old Ship we learn about "Peter Boats", and a one time Champion of the Thames who later became a pub landlord and eventually filed for bankruptcy. We also look at some of the pubs which were lucky - and not so lucky - in the dark days following the dreaded Licensing (Consolidation) Act of 1910.
At the Rutland Arms we found a one time hotel which was bombed in WW2, lost its upper floors, and consequently turned into a pub.
Finally at the Blue Anchor we see evidence of an old bar back no longer behind the bar. We examine the curious habit of the locals in the late 18th century of roasting sheep on the river when it froze over. Finally we consider the archaic "copyhold" system of land ownership because this odd mixed bag of themes wasn't already eclectic enough.
Links etc:
Dove
whatpub.com/pubs/WLD/15937/do...
pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
historicengland.org.uk/listin...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dov...
zythophile.co.uk/2007/11/22/t...
Black Lion
whatpub.com/pubs/WLD/16642/bl...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
historicengland.org.uk/listin...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._H...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammers...
Old Ship
whatpub.com/pubs/WLD/16131/ol...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
heartheboatsing.com/2016/09/1...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
Rutland Arms
whatpub.com/pubs/WLD/16102/ru...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutland...
Blue Anchor
whatpub.com/pubs/WLD/16631/bl...
londonwiki.co.uk/LondonPubs/H...
heartheboatsing.com/2018/01/1...
Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:23 Dove
5:08 Black Lion
8:46 Old Ship
11:46 Rutland Arms
15:36 Blue Anchor
20:08 Outro
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My Friday night pub crawl in the 80's: The Swan (on the Broadway), Oxford and Cambridge, Old City Arms(on the bridge), Blue Anchor, the Rutland, Dove (skipped if too packed) the Old Ship (met the wife there 40 years ago!) Black Lion and very occasionally up to the Mawsons Arms. Always at least a couple in the Swan, Rutland and Old Ship, usually 1 in each of the others. Oh and for less than tenner in those days!
Another really great video! We used this as a travel guide yesterday and had a fantastic time along the water (on one of the few 'summer' days this year!). Even came back and rewatched to remind ourselves of the rich history. Thanks for all the amazing research!!
“Another Tweedy video”!
This is becoming quite a joyous announcement in our house. Your fans now include myself, (50-year-old Londoner in exile in country Australia for last 26 years), my wife and two teenaged daughters.
Your Pub videos are simply a delight and superbly augment other London centric channels on You Tube (John Rogers, Joolz Guides etc) … I am sure it will not be too long before your followers are similar in number to these other creators.
Also, we are huge fans of your other work - Tweedy Outdoors is supremely entertaining fare, informative, moving, and hilarious in equal measure - Jack Hargreaves meets Mark Corrigan from Peep Show with a haversack full of grub and cooking utensils in a biting gale on a barren moor… The very essence of an Englishman’s deep-seated commitment to keep battling on despite the odds.
Bravo Tweedy! If you establish a Patreon or similar, I for one would happily shout you a coffee, Pint of Harvey’s or even a bottle of Burgundy.
Thank you for those very kind words! The news of your family's interest in this channel brings the total of people under the age of 40 I am aware of who watch any of my videos to... two! I have an 11 year old daughter and although she regularly asks about my subscriber count, there's absolutely no way she would actually sit through and watch one of my videos. I live in hope that may change one day when she's a bit older!
Absolutely cracked me up when you broke out the measuring tape in the bar room at The Dove. Excellent video! I look forward to adding these pubs to my list of “musts!”
Thanks Ed! It can be difficult to capture the sense of a small space like that on camera so the tape measure seemed like an obvious way to illustrate it!
I visit Hammersmith frequently for work and its never crossed my mind to try the riverside boozers. This will be rectified over the summer tweedy !!! Thanks for a great vlog.
Thanks Rob! On the contrary I think these riverside boozers are the only reason I've ever been to Hammersmith!
One of my favourite stretches of pubs on the Thames
...and packed with pubs!
Good video as usual- I've been to the Dove and the Blue Anchor- both are great but the Dove is wonderful! Sitting on the upper balcony looking out at the Thames with an ESB, I said to my friend Ian, "We all hope to go to heaven because we've had a little taste." He agreed.
Thanks Lawrence - yes it is a great spot!
that upper balcony is my favourite place along the Hammersmith riverside. Lovely to sit there and look across at the river and the Bridge.
Very enjoyable to watch these interesting pub videos. Also, for a London tourist, like myself, this gives me som climps of which pubs I should visit (after my taste) 😊 Thank you for making these videos and please continue the good research and work 😊
As a bricklayer , The Rutland Arms is a thing of beauty.
Thanks Mr C! Sometimes when I go into a bit of detail about the architecture of these buildings I think "who is actually interested?". So it's great to hear that struck a chord with at least one person!
A sensible move to stick to the riverside pubs - from what I remember while there are some quite old pubs further inland they have been renovated mercilessly - the Hop Poles along King Street may be worth a visit, as may the Eagle in Askew Road. But I suspect they are better approached as a tour also involving Chiswick. The rest of Hammersmith is so crowded and with so much traffic that the riverside is a far better bet.
The Swan was a nice pub, we popped in there after a concert for some drinks. Thanks for the videos, always enjoy.
Some really nice pubs along the river in Hammersmith and Barnes has some good ones too!
Yes I think a riverside setting covers a multitude of sins! Based on the interiors / beer offering I'm not sure I would have given some of the pubs in this video a second look if they had been on a bland street in an uninteresting part of London... but being next to the river like that suddenly makes them a lot more appealing.
@@TweedyPubs Agreed, I think the river aspect certainly helps and makes them a much better visit, and conversely has probably also led to some character being lost in these pubs when they have been ‘improved’ by the various breweries concerned. The White Swan at Twickenham is probably my favourite Thames pub, although not on a rugby day…..!
Another brilliant video cheers tweedy!! 😊
Another interesting video as always great work
Thank you!
Another brilliant video, For myself i like to know how much a pint costs in each public house you visit just for reference.
Thanks Sean - and sorry on the lack of pricing information here - I'll add a comment later with those.
Thank you for another great video and trip down memory lane!
Though this one is a bit bitter sweet as it reminds of relationships lost when I wasn't making great decisions. We get there in the end I suppose!
Thanks Graham, but sorry if it dredged up some unhappy memories!
I completely understand that bittersweet feeling around some pubs - there are certain pubs which remind me of old friends who passed away long before their time. I try and look to the positive, and it's nice to be able to remember those people in a place they once drank and laughed... but it is obviously also twinged with sadness.
@@TweedyPubs Thank you for your reply and also sharing your memories.
Yes, that is a good thing about pubs, you can look to the fond memories and appreciating moments in the present.
Thank you again for your work and content!
Thank you, fascinating as always. Learned a new meaning of uttering and also about the differences between beer and full licences. Thank you again.
Thanks Chris! Yes "uttering" was new to me too. That era of the beer only licence lingered on for a surprisingly long time in pockets - an old haunt of mine, the Fox and Hounds in Belgravia, still had a beer only licence as recently as the 1990s, but I think that was perhaps the last of its kind, at least in London.
Thanks Tweedy. Love your channel. Your videos helped me out when I flew through London a few months ago. Was in SOHO and your pub videos were very helpful. Interestingly I had found the Black Lion and Old Ship after stumbling out of a tour of the Fuller's Brewery down the street..... LOL. Keep it up. Love it.
Thank you! Really glad you found the Soho video helpful - it was made in the very early days of this channel (actually technically even before I started the channel) and I didn't really do much research, I just showed up and said whatever came to mind about each place.
I've never been to the Fuller's Brewery - although have driven past it a few times. I ought to do the tour one day.
That ghost fraudster would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling lawyers!
Once again, the riverside pubs seem really charming, but unlike Rotherhithe, the wider area seems to be a bit better preserved. A bit like a village. But in London.
Fascinating about the The Rutland Hotel/Arms losing its upper floor. The moment you said that, its rather squat appearance made sense.
I wonder if that tiny Public Bar at the Dove is exclusively owned by regulars. I bet it is.
Other wonderful bits in this video include the discovery of the tree on the map and the frozen Thames, "let's roast a sheep" segment. Excellent stuff.
Thanks Mr WC21! As far as I can tell the original ghost prankster met with no comeuppance. Baffling, as the newspaper articles suggest the locals were genuinely terrified, and I don't think it would be unreasonable to lay part of the blame for those tragic events at his door. Strange times.
There are certainly a lot more venerable / well preserved / picturesque houses along the Thames here compared to Rotherhithe, but I think in terms of the overall character of the area I actually prefer Rotherhithe slightly. I didn't show it much in the video but in Hammersmith there are lots of old access points to the river which have now been blocked off, and have officious signs on them saying they're only for use by members of some boat club or other. Black Lion Stairs, briefly featured in the video, was the only place I found where you could actually access the foreshore in an almost mile long stretch of the riverbank. Whereas in Rotherhithe (and Wapping) it was, quite literally, a free-for-all.
I only noticed the chestnut (?) tree on the map while I was editing the video, and that was quite an exciting moment! Other sources had commented that the tree at the back of the pub was apparently 400 years old, but I don't think anyone else has spotted that it seems to be depicted on that 1746 map - so that felt like quite a scoop!
I feel like the "let's roast a sheep" moment was somehow channelling our recent collab! I slightly worry these videos on pub history are in danger of occasionally getting a bit dry and, perhaps, even "nerdy". Our recent escapade in the Chilterns was a good reminder for me of the importance of trying to inject a bit of humour here and there!
@@TweedyPubs it was a very funny sequence! It is a ridiculous thing for them to do on the frozen Thames, although perhaps roasting a sheep as a form of celebration was more commonplace because they couldn’t post anything on Instagram? If the Thames froze over nowadays, they’d all be down there with their smartphones!
Now I’ve thought that through, and in line with my policy of not doing what everyone else does, when the Thames freezes over, I’m going to cook a Quorn roast on it!
Really interesting video. Loved your comments about the roasting of the sheep!
Thanks Liam! It just struck me as such a non-obvious thing to do on a frozen river! I'm still scratching my head a bit about the mechanics of it - presumably this was some kind of spit roast setup, but the fire underneath must have been suspended over the ice otherwise it would just melt through surely...? I'm picturing something like half an oil drum on stilts, but would they have had such a thing easily to hand in the 1780s...? You know, just in case the river freezes over...?
Great video. Years ago while staying in Hammersmith, I discovered an old pub with a dark wooden interior whose name I can't remember.
I do remember a sign that said something like: No television. No music. Just atmosphere.
That sign always stuck with me.
From the looks of it, the Dove seems like the most likely candidate. Can anyone confirm this is indeed the pub with no tele, no music, only atmosphere? Or am I thinking of someplace else?
Cheers from Canada 🇨🇦!
Thank you Tweedy! Excellent pub info and touring as usual, this looks like a fantastic little crawl during the hot sunny days of summer (if we ever get one! 😅) I had a look on google maps for the pubs and thats a ‘no brainer’ nice and close wow definitely gonna give these a look later this year, cheers! 🍻👍🏻
Thank you! Yes I was waiting for at least slightly nicer weather before heading out to film this video, but it seemed like yesterday when I filmed this was about as good as it was going to get for the foreseeable future...
Yes it's a nice short walk between each of these pubs although I did them in a slightly strange order here, because I was keen to get to the Dove when it opens at midday sharp to bag that tiny bar room, and that's actually in the middle of these five pubs.
Thanks for the mention, hope you enjoyed Hammersmith..
Thanks Clark! Yes I had a good time - nice to meet you and thanks again for the pint!
Well done! Particularly enjoyed the Black Lion “ghost”🎉
Thanks L&J! Yes I found that a fascinating (albeit quite tragic) story - amazing to think that something which started with a stupid prank, ended up with such terrible consequences, and then provoked legal debate for practically 200 years!
Nice chestnut tree at the Black Lion garden. 99.9% of our American Chestnuts were blighted by a parasitic fungus imported by accident in samples of Japanese chestnuts around 1904. The disease was first noticed at what is the Bronx Zoo in 1905. By 1930 it wiped out 3,500,000,000 trees from the East Coast to the Midwest. It was a tall , majestic, and useful tree and the chestnuts-nuts were food of many woodland creature. It was used widely in furniture and paneling. Foresters are currently researching ways to create hybrids resistant to the fungus or inserting oxalate oxalase to break down the oxalate the fungus makes. Hopefully they will succeed one day. it will take a Johnny Appleseed level of perseverance to make it work.
I had no idea about the sad fate of the native American Chestnut trees. We've had similar episodes here with Dutch elm disease and ash dieback. Particularly sad when you think these trees can live for hundreds of years.
Cheers Tweedy! I have been to a couple of these pubs. Apparently unknowingly walking right past the smallest pub room in Britain as we entered the Dove. Incidentally there is a scene in the recent Queens Bohemian Rhapsody movie where the band is sitting out in front of the Blue Anchor discussing the bands future while enjoying a few drinks al fresco with the bridge in the background.
Cheers Kevin! I didn't know about the Bohemian Rhapsody movie connection - it must have been a challenging place for them to film...? I found it a bit of a struggle: lots of people passing by (not everyone wants to be on camera, which is fair enough) and pretty much constant planes overhead. At least there isn't much traffic noise!
@@TweedyPubs Yeah I bet it would be a challenge but I imagine those larger productions probably pay to cordon off the area and populate it with extras in period attire for the shoot.
Good evening, Tweedy.
Another good video 😁
Visited The Dove before but will need to go and visit the others now when around there again.
Really enjoy your observations and notes on exterior architecture and the interior fittings and fixtures.
There are four nice pubs, upriver, alongside the Thames at Chiswick, all within a short walking distance from each other;
The Steam Packet
The Bell and Crown
The City Barge
Bulls Head
Keep up with your excellent videos 😃👍
P.S.
I always like "an establishment" that serves a well-kept pint of "Landlord" 😁
Thanks Lee! ...and especially thanks for those suggestions - I'll take a look!
The Dove and Ye Olde Mitre in Holborn were my absolute favorite pubs from my last visit...now I am missing it 🥹 until my next trip in a couple years!
Only recently started watching your pub videos and finding them very entertaining. You are probably familiar with the book, but London Pubs by Alan Reeve-Jones (various editions in the 1960s) is both an interesting read and scurrilously funny.
So much well recorded history, does the Thames ever freeze over now.
Not since the river was narrowed by the Civil Engineer chief Joseph Bazalgette in the late 1850s (during the Big Stink) to force the water to move faster downriver. He filled in the marshy shores east of Parliament where rich merchants had their riverfront villas and ornamental water gates.. I think near the Inns of Court... which are now landlocked 100 yards from the north embankment.
Thanks Jim! There's a good article on the frost fairs on wikipedia, I think the last one was 1814: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River_Thames_frost_fairs
So there really has been a big change, but I do remember canals freezing over in my youth.
Great video. Really interesting. I think The Blue Anchor can also be seen in the closing credits of Minder.
Thank you! Yes I heard the Minder connection from one of the regulars in the Blue Anchor. Clark also mentioned that a couple of these pubs feature in New Tricks - also featuring Dennis Waterman. I wonder if there's a running theme there?
I used to live in that apartment block in the late 80s, those pubs became my lounge.
I would say the 80s were a golden age for pubs, but I suspect everyone says that of the era in which they first became aware of their existence!
The Rutland was used a lot in New Tricks.
I haven't seen the show but Clark also mentioned that when we were chatting in the Black Lion. I wondered if Dennis Waterman has some connection with the area? Apparently the Blue Anchor also features in the opening (or closing?) titles for Minder.
@@TweedyPubs Dunno. Might just have been a scenic location with the bridge in the background.
The Red Lon has changed since I use to drink there back in the mid-Seventies.
Really enjoyable videos - my partner and I can't stop watching them! Will you do one for Crouch End sometime soon? We'll visit London early June and stay in that neighbourhood. Would be awesome to see a pub video before we go.
Thank you! I barely know Crouch End, but I'll look into it and see if there's enough pubs of interest to put together a video...
The Boat Race looked like it was on March 30th. It looked exciting but apparently with the flooding earlier, the waters were afoulled with E. coli at high levels causing Oxford team to have the Hershey Squirts. The Ship had a framed program of 1929 Centennial Boat Race. The Bicentennial is coming up soon! (Along with the Bicentennial of the Manchester-Liverpool passenger railway opening in 2030!) (There is a pub from 1540 in Glazebury on Warrington Rd, The Raven Inn, that was closed during Covid then a "developer" tried to buy it and raze it for condos before the townsfolk outbid him and then raised more money to totally restore it. They got down to the Tudor bricks on the interior and rebuilt the fireplace. Col. Thomas Blood was a patron. There was an ambush by Roundheads against Highlanders in the field behind it with a lot of KIAs. They have Thomas Taylor and Copper Dragon ales on tap.)
Thanks RRD! Yes I love getting down onto the Thames foreshore wherever I can, to have a walk around and look at the things that wash up there... but I avoid picking anything up! It is sadly, not a particularly clean body of water these days. I felt like things had definitely been improving on that front for the past few decades but now it has taken a step backwards again. (Also technically I think to remove any artefacts found on the foreshore you're supposed to have a "mudlarking" licence.)
Thanks 🙏 for this was very insightful. One pub, maybe it’s gone now is The Old City arms just by the bridge, it has a certain charm. Also it’s worth heading down towards strand on the green, The Bull, The City Barge and the Bell 🔔 & Crown. Keep up the good work! 😊
Thank you! Yes the Old City Arms is still there, albeit a bit hemmed in at the moment with the construction work on Hammersmith Bridge. Thanks for the other suggestions - I've been to a couple of those Strand-on-the-Green pubs but it was so long ago now I barely remember what they were like so probably a good time to revisit!
subscribed
Thank you!
Looked like Freddie Mercury in that depiction of “the ex-champion of The Thames”… we are the champions, we are…
As you were. Carry on.
Now you mention it, it does have an air of Freddie Mercury! I think I read in another comment here that a scene from the recent Bohemian Rhapsody movie was filmed outside the Blue Anchor so that's probably quite appropriate!
Was afraid something happened to you, then realized youtube automatically unsubscribed me from your channel. Fixed.
Fantastic stuff mate!!!
That Dove is an absolute belter!!👌
Picking your brain now,, I’m at Wembley on May 11th. Any boozers you would recommend round there?
As always, keep up the good work 👍 Paul
Thanks Paul! Yes the Dove is definitely my favourite of the pubs in this area, especially if you can sneak in at midday when it's quiet as I did!
I've actually never explored the Wembley area for pubs - maybe I should...? Taking a quick look on CAMRA's Pub Heritage site, the nearest pub of interesting historic note seems to be the Windermere in South Kenton - probably still quite a trek from the centre of Wembley though. Looks like a an Art Deco sort of place: pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/52
@@TweedyPubs Thanks mate, I’ll check it out!!! Top man 👍
proper job is a splendid drink and you had a guineas lol
30+ year's ago I used to live & work right by these pubs, the Black Lion they've really changed the inside, meh!
They really ruined the inside of the Blue Anchor. It used to have such character. Now it’s just filled with a load of new tat you would buy in a home goods store. You can see the old interior 48 mins into the movie Sliding Doors.
Genuine question, why is cask beer so bad in London?
Money.
@TweedyPubs fair enough, I'm up north. can get a pint of Landlord for £3.50. £6 a pint, I guess everyone earns more in London, but if the beer is rubbish it doesn't matter what you're paying, you're still getting ripped off.
Theres great cask to be found if you know where to look. Just stay outside of central london is my tip
@Triplen01 thanks, I don't know London that well, found a couple of good places in Brixton, went to a place called cask In pimlico had high hopes because of the name, but it was terrible, also went to the queen's head near King's Cross, nice pub, but wasn't impressed by the beer.
@@jessop- I never liked the Cask in Pimlico to be honest, it always felt a bit soulless, not really a pub, and even 13 or 14 years ago when it first opened the beer offering was veering very much to the sort of hipster grapefruity American style IPA I've just never enjoyed.
Some of my favourite "pubby pubs" which I think actually have really good beer offerings are the Harp in Charing Cross / Covent Garden, the Southampton Arms in Kentish Town, and actually Ye Old Mitre in Holborn, despite being owned by Fuller's, usually has a very respectable set of guest beers. Also the Royal Oak in Borough if you like Harveys (probably my favourite brewery).
There are pocket-sized devices that use a laser beam to measure the dimensions of a room. I use one as a key fob.
Ah yes I've seen estate agents use those!
Thank you - superb, as ever. I should have enjoyed it even more had you used traditional measurements rather than centimetres. You'll be ordering beer in millilitres next!
Thanks Simon, and yes I regret not providing those measurements in old money!
Nice riverside pub crawl i liked the interior of the first pub but disappointing choice of real ales in all the pubs all the usual suspects 🍻
Thanks John - yes I'd have to agree with you there. I like the riverside setting and I found delving into the history interesting, but to be honest there was only one beer I thoroughly enjoyed out of the five pubs featured here. That's a pretty poor success rate!
The one good beer was a pint of Landlord at the Black Lion (thanks to Clark for that!) which alas I didn't get any video footage of.
As for the rest:
- London Pride is something which, to me, can be OK, but is never fantastic. However the example at the Dove on this occasion was slightly below OK. Souring a bit already.
- At the Old Ship, I went for Young's London Original as there were only two beers on the hand pumps, and that seemed the lesser of two evils. It's a beer I don't hugely enjoy even on a good day, and this apparently wasn't a good day! A bit cloudy and again souring slightly. I ended up leaving half of it.
- I suppose in fairness the mystery Greene King house bitter at the Rutland was actually slightly better than I expected to be - it was quite fresh tasting, clean, mineral, and didn't give me the sense it had been hanging around a bit too long like the previous two.
- The Guinness in the Blue Anchor was fine but it's obviously keg rather than cask - as mentioned in the video the Landlord there was temporarily off and the other two hand pumps weren't my cup of tea.
So, yes, a bit of a poor show for five pubs. We definitely have a problem in London with the stranglehold that the big pub companies / breweries have on so many pubs here, and the disappointing beer that often results in! Some bits of London seem to be better than others and generally it seems to be the case that the higher the local property prices are, the worse the beer is.
Love the grandstand on the roof of the Rutland, the HSE would just be speechless from shock if you showed them that and said 'i assume you're alright with this?' Though it looks less dangerous than the back of the top tier at Twickenham after a couple of beers.