Prospect of Whitby

The Prospect of Whitby is a historic public house on the banks of the Thames at Wapping in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lays claim to being the site of the oldest riverside tavern, dating from around 1520.

The Prospect of Whitby from the Thames foreshore, 2006
The Prospect of Whitby, street view
Interior, 2013

History

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.

In the 17th century, it became the hostelry of choice of "Hanging" Judge Jeffreys, scourge of the Monmouth Rebellion. He lived nearby and a replica gallows and noose hangs by the Thameside window, commemorating his custom. He was chased by anti-Royalists into the nearby Town of Ramsgate, captured and taken to the Tower for his own safety. 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] The writers Charles Dickens and Samuel Pepys are known to have paused to sup here.[4]

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.

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.

A photograph of the Malcolm Price Trio was taken inside the pub and featured on the front cover of their second LP, titled "Way Down Town", in 1965.

The pub is also reported to be the favourite pub of Squeeze member Chris Difford.

In a May 2016 episode of BBC's EastEnders, the pub is mentioned during a scene featuring Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden when their character's Peggy and Phil Mitchell take a river cruise along the Thames.

The pub is mentioned in Louis L'Amour's novel "To the Far Blue Mountains" [16], and in John le Carré's "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold".

It is mentioned in the BBC series Taboo.

The front of the pub is clearly seen in Episode 8, Series 2 of Marcella, a British police drama, when the main character is pursuing a suspect who is hiding in an old warehouse. When the detective exits her vehicle to run into the warehouse, the pub is again visible over her right shoulder.

The Pub is mentioned in Ben Aaronovitch's Novel "River's of London" where the main character, P.C. Peter Grant, talks about the times his jazz musician father played there.

The pub appears in The Old Guard featuring Charlize Theron.

gollark: Really, shooting them at all is a waste.
gollark: Assuming the trespassers are paramagnetic, I mean.
gollark: I mean, it would be quite easy to use the orbital trespasser magnets™.
gollark: IIRC it isn't actually that lambda-calculus-related, since you can just do "bind [opponent health] [deal damage]" or something like that.
gollark: I do know roughly how it works.

See also

References
  1. Inwood, Stephen (June 2012). Historic London: An Explorer's Companion. Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  2. Paris, Natalie (18 April 2013). "England's great pubs". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  3. Fodor's London 2016. Fodor's Travel Guides. 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  4. The Thames Tunnel, Ratcliff Highway and Wapping, Old and New London: Volume 2 (1878), pp. 128–37 Retrieved 29 March 2007
  5. Manners, Jamie (October 2015). The Seven Noses of Soho: And 191 Other Curious Details from the Streets of London. Michael O'Mara Books. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  6. Smith, Oliver (18 February 2016). "London's 11 most notorious public execution sites". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  7. Farman, John (May 2012). The Very Bloody History Of London. Random House. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  8. Attwooll, Jolyon (22 February 2016). "London's best historical pubs: the ultimate tour". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  9. "London Pubs". Knowledge of London. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  10. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1357505)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 December 2008.
  11. "The Prospect of Whitby". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 17 September 1951. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. "Jail for Prospect of Whitby Raiders". Yorkshire Evening Post. 19 March 1953. p. 7. Retrieved 11 September 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  13. Harris, Pearl. "The Historic Pubs of London". Time Travel Britain. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  14. ""Discussion about The League of extraordinary Gentlement: "[...] The sign that bothered Miss Murray was partially seen in the panel. It had the name "Whitby" on it. Whitby is where much of the action in DRACULA takes place."". 1 March 1999. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
  15. Moore, Alan; O'Neill, Kevin (1953). The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Chapter 2: Ghosts and Miracle: Vertigo. ISBN 978-1-4012-4083-7.CS1 maint: location (link)
  16. To the Far Blue Mountains by Louis L'Amour 1973 Chapter 3 Bantam Books ISBN 978-0-553-90007-1

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