The Prospect of Whitby is a historic public house on the northern bank of the River Thames at Wapping, in the East End of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lays claim to being the site of the oldest riverside tavern, dating from around 1520.
The tavern was formerly known as The Pelican and later as the Devil’s Tavern, on account of its dubious reputation. All that remains from the building's earliest period is the 400-year-old stone floor, and the pub features eighteenth century panelling and a nineteenth century facade. [1] The pub has a pewter-top bar, and is decorated with many nautical objects. [2] [3] In former times it was a meeting place for sailors, smugglers, cut-throats and footpads. Sir Hugh Willoughby sailed from here in 1553 in a disastrous attempt to discover the North-East Passage to China.
According to John Stow it was "The usual place for hanging of pirates and sea-rovers, at the low-water mark, and there to remain till three tides had overflowed them". Execution Dock was actually by Wapping Old Stairs and generally used for pirates. [4] [5] [6] In the eighteenth century, the first fuchsia plant in the United Kingdom was sold at the pub. [7]
Views from the pub were sketched by both Turner and Whistler. [8]
Following a fire in the early 19th century, the tavern was rebuilt and renamed The Prospect of Whitby, after a Tyne collier that used to berth next to the pub. The ship took sea coal from Newcastle upon Tyne to London. [7] [9] The Prospect was listed as a Grade II listed building in December 1950. [10] The pub underwent a renovation in 1951 to double the interior space. [11] In January 1953, the pub was raided by armed robbers. [12] The pub has been visited by Princess Margaret and Prince Rainier III of Monaco. [13]
On the opposite side of the road (Wapping Wall) is the Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, later an arts centre and restaurant.
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The video for Gilbert O'Sullivan's 1970 hit "Nothing Rhymed" was shot here, as he was living close by in a bedsit when he wrote the song.
The public house features briefly in an episode of Only Fools And Horses . When Uncle Albert goes missing in one episode, Del Boy and Rodney travel around London looking for him. Nicholas Lyndhurst is shown in one scene walking out of the pub. There is also a scene from the 1956 film D-Day the Sixth of June starring Robert Taylor and Richard Todd where Taylor's character is seen with Dana Wynter's character having drinks together during the Second World War in London.
In the comic book The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen , Mina Harker pauses in front of the public house and says it brings back memories. She is referring to the beaching of the Demeter at Whitby in the novel Dracula . [14] [15]
This pub is also featured in Vercors's novel Les Animaux dénaturés (translated variously into English as You Shall Know Them, Borderline, and The Murder of the Missing Link).
The pub also appears in Whitechapel , Series 4, Episode 4, where the body of a victim is discovered on the Thames shoreline. DS Miles briefly explains its history to DI Chandler.
The pub features in several of Anna Harrington's Regency-era romance novels, most notably in An Unexpected Earl and An Extraordinary Lord, both in the "Lords of the Armory" series; the recurring comic character of Hugh Whitby in Harrington's "Capturing the Carlisles" series was named after the pub.
The pub also serves as the location for the final scenes in The Old Guard (2020). [16]
A pub is a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in the late 17th century, to differentiate private houses from those open to the public as alehouses, taverns and inns. Today, there is no strict definition, but CAMRA states a pub has four characteristics:
Limehouse is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London. It is 3.9 miles (6.3 km) east of Charing Cross, on the northern bank of the River Thames. Its proximity to the river has given it a strong maritime character, which it retains through its riverside public houses and steps, such as The Grapes and Limehouse Stairs. It is part of the traditional county of Middlesex. It became part of the ceremonial County of London following the passing of the Local Government Act 1888, and then part of Greater London in 1965.
Rotherhithe is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, with the Isle of Dogs to the east. It borders Bermondsey to the west and Deptford to the south-east. The district is a part of the Docklands area.
Wapping is a district in East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Wapping is located on the north bank of the River Thames between St Katharine Docks to the west, and Shadwell to the east. This position gives the district a strong maritime character.
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary of the Cities of London and Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was named.
Old Windsor is a large village and civil parish, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It is bounded by the River Thames to the east and the Windsor Great Park to the west.
Shadwell Basin is a housing and leisure complex built around a disused dock in Wapping, London. The old dock was formerly part of the London Docks, a group of docks built by the London Dock Company at Shadwell and Wapping as part of the wider docks of the Port of London.
The Grapes is a public house situated directly on the north bank of the Thames in London's Limehouse area, with a veranda overlooking the water. To its landward side, the pub is found at number 76 in Narrow Street, flanked by former warehouses now converted to residential and other uses. It is listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England.
Wapping Wall is a street located in the East End of London at Wapping. It runs parallel to the northern bank of the River Thames, with many converted warehouses facing the river.
The Anchor is a pub in the London Borough of Southwark. It is in the Bankside locality on the south bank of the River Thames, close to Southwark Cathedral and London Bridge station. A tavern establishment has been at the pub's location for over 800 years. Behind the pub are buildings that were operated by the Anchor Brewery.
Stoke Row is a village and civil parish in the Chiltern Hills, about 5 miles (8 km) west of Henley-on-Thames in South Oxfordshire and about 9 miles (14 km) north of Reading. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 651.
Carpenters Arms is a common British pub name.
The Town of Ramsgate public house is located at the centre of the ancient hamlet of Wapping in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It features in several books about London inns where it is rated as "a notable specimen of a waterman's tavern."
The Cock is a Grade II listed public house at 360 North End Road, Fulham, London.
The London Apprentice is a Grade II* listed public house at 62 Church Street, Isleworth, London.
The Trafalgar Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at Park Row, Greenwich, London, situated on the south bank of the River Thames, east of and adjacent to the Old Royal Naval College.
The Captain Kidd is a pub in Wapping, East London, that is named after the seventeenth century pirate William Kidd, who was executed at the nearby Execution Dock. The pub is a Grade II listed building, and was historically used as a coffee warehouse.
Xylonite is one of seven Thames barges built between 1925 and 1930 for F W Horlock, Mistley. She was sold by the Horlocks in 1958 and cut down to a motor barge in 1958. Xylonite was re-rigged in the 1970s by Tim Eliff and replated on the 1980s. She has been used for sail training since 1983.
Rotherhithe Street is a road in the London Borough of Southwark on the Thames Path. At a length of around 1.5 miles (2.4 km), it is the longest street in London. Notable buildings on the street include the Grade II* listed Nelson House, St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks Farm.
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