This pub is not only a grade II listed building, it is also a One Star pub on the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) National Inventory with an interior of special national historic interest, and the description is as follows: “The Griffin we have today is two buildings knocked into one pub. The older part stretches down Ravey Street and has some typical detailing of about 1870. The later part, on the corner, has some distinctive tiled panels and must date from later in the 19th century. Then, between the wars, along came the brown tile refacing of all the ground-floor walls by Meux’s Brewery to promote their wares (they brewed on the site of the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court Road till 1921, then moved to Nine Elms where brewing ceased in 1964). All the internal partitioning has gone but the Victorian counter remains, as does the matchboard panelling that covers the ceiling. But the feature of most interest is the back fitting behind the bar with a series of unusual, highly ornamented wooden columns, a number of original mirrors and a fancy cornice above.”

The listing description is as follows: “Public house c.1889, designer unknown. Red brick with extensive stucco dressings and encaustic tile decoration, glazed ground floor front, ornamental cast iron window boxes to second floor windows. Three storeys, three bay front to Leonard Street, five bay return to Ravey Street with lower northern continuation of two storeys with attic, four bays wide. Continuous fascia to both sides. Ground floor with glazed terra cotta facing, bearing the name of the Meux brewery's products. Interior: features include behind-bar mirrored screen with Corinthian columns; boarded ceiling carried on slender cast iron columns; room to rear lined with inscribed mirrors proclaiming the virtues of the drink on offer. Open stairs to rear lead up to former function room on first floor. A characterful pub from the High Victorian period with a good façade and internal survivals of note.”

The WhatPub link is here: WhatPub/Griffin

The Pub Heritage Group link is here: PHG/Griffin

The Griffin featured on the Evening Crawl of EC1 and EC2 on 5 December 2001, and the Breweries and Markets Past and Present: Evening Crawl of Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Spitalfields on 9 December 2009.