Someone — we don’t know who — spent the week of 22-28 August 1908 visiting the capital of the British Empire and brought home as a souvenir a photo book called 350 Views of London.
They wrote the dates of their holiday on the inside cover in pencil. The book then spent at least some of the past century somewhere damp — an attic or shed — so that its cover buckled and the staples holding it together rusted away. That’s why we were able to by this relic for a couple of quid from the junk box in a secondhand bookshop in Bristol.
Among those 350 photos, some full-page, others fairly tiny, there are a handful that particularly grabbed our attention, for obvious reasons.
This is one of the clearest, most detailed views we’ve seen of the Spaten Beer Restaurant at Piccadilly — a pioneering London lager outlet that we obsessed over during the writing of Gambrinus Waltz. We still desperately want to see a view of the interior but this is nice to have.
The book contains two views of one particular pub, The King Lud at Ludgate Circus. This is interesting to us because Jess drank in it fairly regularly in its final years when it was branded as part of the Hogshead chain. It is now a Leon restaurant, but recognisably the same building.
The beer connection in this shot of the Royal Exchange is a little less obvious: look at those two omnibuses in the centre — they’re advertising Tennent’s Lager, as distributed in London by Findlater & Co of London Bridge. This is a reminder that Germany and Austria-Hungary weren’t the only countries importing lager to London in the years before World War I.
We haven’t seen this shot of Tottenham Court Road before, or any other from quite this angle. That’s Meux’s Horse Shoe brewery and the attached brewery tap to the right — the site of the famous beer flood. The sign above the brewery door advertises MEUX’S ORIGINAL LONDON STOUT. We’d like to know more about the Horse Shoe Hotel’s ‘American Bar’.
The Saracen’s Head was on Snow Hill in the City of London. We can’t quite pin down the precise location, even after looking at contemporary maps, aerial photos and the comprehensive Pubs History website. An educated guess is that it was destroyed during the Blitz — if you know otherwise, or can tell us exactly where it was, do comment below.
10 replies on “Incidental Lager, Pubs and Breweries in Photos of Edwardian London”
http://closedpubs.co.uk/london/ec1_clerkenwell_saracenshead.html
“The Saracens Head was situated at 5 Snow Hill. This pub was rebuilt in1868, then closed and demolished in the early 20th century. Its address was originally at 49 Skinner Street, now it is 5 Snow Hill, occupied by Snow Hill police station. A City Of London blue plaque commemorates the pubs location.”
That it?
The Saracens Head by Charles Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby Ch IV, V
”.. just at that part of Snow Hill where omnibus horses going eastwards seriously think of falling down on purpose, and where horses in hackney cabriolets going westward not unfrequently fall by accident, is the Saracens Head Inn… When you walk up this yard you will see the booking office on your left and the tower of St Sepulchre’s church, darting abruptly into the sky on your right, and a gallery of bedrooms on both sides. Just before you, you will observe a large window with the words ‘Coffee-room’ legibly painted over it.”
I think I’d go for the Meux Imperial Three Guinea Stout.
Apologies for going in a non-beery direction which is prompted by the reference to “Findlater & Co of London Bridge”. Is this Findlater Mackie & Todd? I assume so, as the location fits although I did not know they did anything other than wine. I mention it as many years ago I used to buy wine on mail order from them and last night opened a half bottle of Chateau Thieuley 1988 which they supplied – see http://www.waitrosememorystore.org.uk/page_id__1308.aspx . And in another co-incidence I worked opposite Findlater’s corner for many years – https://knowyourlondon.wordpress.com/2015/03/17/findlaters-corner/
I’ve seen plenty of labels woth Findlater & Mackie on the label. Iy looks to me that they were bottlersas well as distributors of beer.
The most obvious American Bar that springs to mind is the one at the Savoy Hotel. According to their website (https://www.fairmont.com/savoy-london/dining/americanbar/):
“As transatlantic travel became more popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many American Bars opened throughout London. The term ‘American Bar’ refers to a bar serving mixed or ‘American’ style drinks, more commonly known as cocktails.”
If you already knew all that but were interested in this particular one then I can’t help you, though.
The King Lud was, of course, owned by Levy & Franks, pioneers of pub catering and founders of the Chef & Brewer chain, now, after several owners, in the hands of Greene King, and very probably our oldest pub restaurant brand. I really want to write something on Levy & Franks, but it’s about number six or seven on the ‘to do’ list …
Ah, yes, now you mention it, 20th Century Pub, p.164!
I know the precise location of the Saracens Head Hotel (in fact there was more than one location, as it was rebuilt). The OS maps mark it though.
The Saracens Head was on the corner of King St, Snow Hill and Cock La. It’s clearly marked on the Ordnance Survey Five feet to the mile, London, 1893-6 map. It’s only marked as P.H. but the outline matches the photo. I think it also says Cock La on the pub wall in the photo.