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 on 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. The pub features 18th-century panelling and a 19th-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, cutthroats 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 was 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 brought 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 former Wapping Hydraulic Power Station, later an arts centre and restaurant.
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There is a scene in the 1956 film D-Day the Sixth of June , starring Robert Taylor and Richard Todd, in which Taylor's character is seen with Dana Wynter's character having drinks in the pub during the Second World War.
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 pub 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.
In the comicbook The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Mina Harker pauses in front of the pub and says it brings back memories. She is referring to the beaching of the Demeter at Whitby in the novel Dracula . [14] [15]
The pub is also featured in Vercors's novel Les Animaux dénaturés.
The pub also appears in Whitechapel , Series 4, Episode 4, in which 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 Hugh Whitby in Harrington's "Capturing the Carlisles" series was named after the pub.
The pub also features in several of the Charles Holborne legal crime thrillers by former barrister, Simon Michael, particularly Corrupted, in which the protagonist and his family work as lightermen on the Thames during the Blitz.
The pub also serves as the location for the final scenes in The Old Guard (2020). [16]
A pub is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England 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 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 an area in the borough of Tower Hamlets in London, England. It is in East London and part of the East End. Wapping is 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.
Wapping is a station on the London overground located on the northern bank of the River Thames in Wapping within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The station is served by National Rail London Overground services under the control of the London Rail division of Transport for London, however there is no standard red National Rail "double arrow" logo signage located at the station, instead only the Overground roundel. The station is between Shadwell and Rotherhithe, and is in Travelcard Zone 2.
Pub names are used to identify and differentiate traditional drinking establishments. Many pubs are centuries old, and were named at a time when most of their customers were illiterate, but could recognise pub signs. The use of signage was not confined to drinking establishments. British pubs may be named after and depict anything from everyday objects, to sovereigns, aristocrats and landowners. Other names come from historic events, livery companies, occupations, sports, and craftsmen's guilds. One of the most common pub names is the Red Lion. This list contains both modern and historical examples.
Old Windsor is a 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.
The Spaniards Inn is a historic pub on Spaniards Road between Hampstead and Highgate in London, England. It lies on the edge of Hampstead Heath near Kenwood House. It is a Grade II listed building, dating back to the 16th century.
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.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, also promoted as LXG, is a 2003 steampunk/dieselpunk superhero film loosely based on the first volume of the comic book series of the same name by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it was released on 11 July 2003 in the United States, and 17 October in the United Kingdom. It was directed by Stephen Norrington and starred Sean Connery, Naseeruddin Shah, Peta Wilson, Tony Curran, Stuart Townsend, Shane West, Jason Flemyng, and Richard Roxburgh. It was Connery's final role in a theatrically released live-action film before his retirement in 2006 and death in 2020.
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.
The George Tavern is a Grade II listed public house and music venue located on Commercial Road in Stepney, London. It is owned and operated by artist Pauline Forster.
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 Trafalgar Tavern is a Grade II listed public house at the north end of Park Row, Greenwich, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, east of and adjacent to the Old Royal Naval College. Built by architect Joseph Kay on the site of a previous tavern and opened in 1837, it operated until 1915, after which the building was used for other purposes, including as a working men's club and residential accommodation. The Tavern reopened in 1965, was refurbished in 1968, and gained listed building status in 1973. It is located within the eastern boundary of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, designated by UNESCO in 1997.
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.
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