DOWN RIVER: LONDON PUBS GROUP DAYTIME CRAWL OF ROTHERHITHE, WAPPING AND LIMEHOUSE ON SATURDAY 15 JUNE 2013

1) 12 noon Upstairs at the Angel, 101 Bermondsey Wall East, Rotherhithe, SE16 4NB. This pub is a grade II listed building and the listing description is as follows: “Public house. c1830s, possibly incorporating parts of earlier C17 building of the same name; later C20 alterations. Multi-coloured stock brick with timber ground floor; low pitched slate roof with gully and hip rising to right, behind stucco cornice and blocking course. 2 storeys and attic, 3 bays. Entrance in rounded angle to left return, with further entrance in right bay. Ground floor bays articulated by modified Doric pilasters (paired at ends) supporting fascia and cornice. Gauged brick, segmental arches to 1st-floor sash windows with glazing bars. 1st floor has stucco band and brick pilasters at either end. River front has weatherboarded gallery on wooden posts with balcony below and to left return. INTERIOR: not inspected.” In Buildings of England Pevsner describes the pub as a “picturesque, partly weatherboarded riverfront” building. It is well worth a visit for its location and a fairly recent Victorian-style refurbishment by Sam Smiths which reintroduced partitions between the bars, conducted to their usual high standard. There are excellent views of the river and the city from the upstairs room.

No real ale is served here. Although the intended lunch stop is at the next pub on the crawl, the Angel does very reasonably priced meals so you could stay here longer for lunch and catch up at the next pub. Turn left out of the pub and walk along the riverside (following the signs for Rotherhithe station and Rotherhithe Village) until you reach Rotherhithe Street. Continue along Rotherhithe Street to

2) 1.00 pm Mayflower, 117 Rotherhithe Street, Rotherhithe, SE16 4NF. Although this pub is not a listed building, it does get a mention as a “try also” on CAMRA’s London Regional Inventory of Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest and the brief description is as follows: “you may care to drop in at the Mayflower which fronts onto the Thames – it has some old panelling but most of the woodwork is of no great age. It is right by Brunels’ Thames Tunnel (the first underwater thoroughfare in the world) and museum.” This famous riverside pub was named after the ship that carried the Pilgrim Fathers to Massachusetts.

This is the official lunch stop on the crawl for those who wish to eat here.

Four interesting real ales are usually available here. On leaving the pub, turn left and continue along Rotherhithe Street to the junction with Railway Avenue. Cross over Rotherhithe Street and walk down Railway Avenue to Rotherhithe Overground station.

Robert Preston has supplied the following notes about the Thames Tunnel. Between Rotherhithe and Wapping, London Overground trains pass the first tunnel to be built under water through soft ground, now listed at Grade II*. The listing description for the Thames Tunnel says: “Brick bedded in Roman cement and faced with clay tiles and stucco. 1,200ft long. Two parallel vaults of horseshoe section, 14ft wise by 16ft high and joined at intervals by cross arches are encased in a rectangular brick framework 38ft wide and 22ft high externally. At the end are access shafts 50ft across. Segmental arches separating the two vaults 'rest' on Greek Doric half-columns with square abaci. Many arches have been filled in. Stucco finish in 'ashlar' on top of red clay tile lining of tunnel”. Marc Brunel began work in 1825 using a tunnelling shield which he had designed, also the first of its kind, assisted by his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The tunnel opened to pedestrian traffic on May 26 1843, but the ramps intended to provide access for carriages were never completed. In 1865-69 the tunnel was converted for use by the East London Railway, later becoming part of the electrified London Underground network until 2010 when London Overground services began operating on the extended East London Line.

Enter the station and catch a train from Platform 1 to Wapping. Alight from the train and walk upstairs (or get a lift) to the surface. Turn left out of the station and walk down Wapping High Street to

3) 2.45 pm Town of Ramsgate, 62 Wapping High Street, Wapping, E1W 2PN. This pub, which is in CAMRA’s 2013 Good Beer Guide, is a grade II listed building and the listing description is as follows: “Public House C18 on earlier foundation, later additions and extensive alterations to facade. Brown brick with eaves cornice and blocking course, stone band between ground and 1st floor. Roof not visible. 3 storeys and dormers. 1 window 2nd floor recessed with brick side pilasters, sash window, vertical glazing bars only. 1st floor window with glazing bars. Corner door and additional window facing west. Rear canted 1st floor bay window. Inside, beamed ceilings, benches, plank panelling and engraved glass screen. Judge Jeffreys was reputedly captured at this inn. Included for interior, group value and historical associations. The iron railings and paved roadway of Wapping Pier Head form a group with Nos 1 to 15 (consec) and No 4½, Town of Ramsgate Public House, Oliver's Wharf and this section of the wall and entrance to London Docks, and 4 Bollards, Wapping Old Stairs, Wapping High Street.”

Fullers London Pride; Harveys Sussex Bitter; Sharps Doom Bar; and Youngs Bitter are usually served here. On leaving the pub, retrace your steps down Wapping High Street to

4) 3.15 pm Captain Kidd, 108 Wapping High Street, Wapping, E1W 2NE. This building was converted from a workshop to a pub by Sam Smiths in 1988-9. Like the Angel and the Town of Ramsgate it is a grade II listed building and the listing description is as follows: “Early C19 pair of 3 storey, 3 bay houses. Built of stock brick, No 108 with rather broader elevation. Parapet with stone coping. Mansard slate roof, with 2 dormers, to No 110, but replaced by flat roof on No 108. The latter has 2 broad first floor windows (formerly tripartite sashes) flanking blind narrower central window; the second floor has 3 standard sized windows; all have flat gauged arches and stuccoed reveals. Wood cornice and fascia over remodelled Edwardian office on ground floor, tile faced with central waggon entrance through to yard. Nos 110 has similarly remodelled ground floor but retains two 6 panel doors, the lower door to left with reeded framing and corner roundels to panels. The upper floors retain original thin glazing bar sashes (3 and 5 panes on first floor; 3 and 4 panes on second floor). The side elevation of No 110 curves round, with an inset bow containing stairlights and blind windows, to the south yard elevation which has tripartite sash windows. To the rear of No 108 and linked across yard is a workshop range extending out to the wharf. Two storeys stock brick, mid C19, with continuous range of first floor Yorkshire casements and RSG over ground floor which has triple groups of Yorkshire lights.” There are brilliant views over the river. In Buildings of England Pevsner describes the building as being “close to the site of Execution Dock where pirates were hanged at lower water mark until 1830. Captain Kidd was executed here in 1701”. You may be lucky enough to see the resident ginger cat.

Sam Smiths Old Brewery Bitter is usually served here. Turn right out of the pub and continue down Wapping High Street to the junction with Garnet Street. Turn right into Garnet Street and walk along Garnet Street to the junction with Wapping Wall. Turn right into Wapping Wall and walk along Wapping Wall to

5) 4.00 pm Prospect of Whitby (formerly Pelican), 57 Wapping Wall, Wapping, E1W 3SH. Like the Angel, the Town of Ramsgate and the Captain Kidd this Taylor Walker pub is a grade II listed building and the listing description is as follows: “Original building said to be circa 1520 but north-west, or front, elevation refaced early C19. Yellow brick, roof not visible. 3 storeys, 3 windows. Architraves to recessed sashes with glazing bars. return or south-west elevation in imitation stone now painted white. Flush frame window. River elevation has hooded balcony with needled balustrade. Interior much altered but some C18 dado panelling on 1st floor. Included principally for historic associations and as a surviving riverside inn. The Prospect of Whitby Public House, Pelican Stairs and the London Hydraulic Power Company's Pumping Station form a group”. The pub’s current name is that of a Tyne collier that used to berth next to the pub. According to the pub’s publicity flyer it “has featured briefly in an episode of Only Fools and Horses and Minder and is also in a scene in the 1956 film D-Day the sixth of June starring Robert Taylor and Richard Todd.” In Buildings of England Pevsner describes the pub as having a “19th-century façade with small-scale Classical features. The oldest obvious feature is some 18th-century panelling, probably not in situ”.

A selection of four real ales from national and micro breweries is usually served here. Turn right out of the pub and right again to the Thames Path. Walk along the Thames Path, via its various inland diversions, to

6) 5.00 pm Narrow (formerly Barley Mow), 44 Narrow Street, Limehouse, E14 8DP. This pub is housed in the former Dockmaster’s House which was built around 1905-10 for the Regents Canal Dock, now Limehouse Basin. Strangely, it does not appear to be statutorily listed.

Adnams Broadside and Lighthouse are usually available here. Turn right out of the pub, cross the swing bridge over the entrance to Limehouse Basin and walk along Narrow Street to

7) 5.30 pm Grapes, 76 Narrow Street, Limehouse, E14 8BP. Like the Angel, the Town of Ramsgate, the Captain Kidd and the Prospect of Whitby this pub is a grade II listed building and the listing description is as follows: “Public House. C19 facade. Stock brick, roof not visible. 4 storeys, 2 windows, sashes, vertical glazing bars only, segmental arches. Fascia board with end stops above ground floor. Small centre bay with 2 flanking doors.”

The lease of this atmospheric pub is now owned by the actor, Sir Ian McKellen. The pub is marvellously described thus by The Gentle Author in the book Spitalfields Life “Coming down Narrow St, parallel to the Thames, you arrive at a handsome eighteenth-century terrace and walk straight off the pavement into the bar of The Grapes leaving the sunshine behind, to discover that the building is just one room wide – no more than fifteen feet across. In the cool gloom you find yourself in a bare-boarded bar room full of attractively mismatched furniture and look beyond to the source of glimmering light, which is the river. Stepping through into the cosy back bar, no larger than a small parlour, you realise this is the entire extent of the ground floor. With an appealing surfeit of old brown matchboarding and lined with picture frames containing a whole archive of prints, photographs and paintings that tell the story of this venerable pub and outline its connection to the work of Dickens, this is one of the most charismatic spaces I know. Through the double doors, you find yourself upon the verandah and the full expanse of the water is quite overwhelming to behold at this bend in the river where it twists towards Greenwich, shimmering in the distance. In fact, this is the frontage of the pub because, until recently, most customers would have come directly from the river.” Note also the painting, Saturday Night at the Grapes which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in the late 1940s, hung on the left-hand wall of the street-side bar.

Adnams Southwold Bitter; Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted; Marstons Pedigree; Sharps Doom Bar; and Timothy Taylor Landlord are usually served here.