Ever stopped in your tracks when walking past a pub, scratched your head and wondered where on Earth it got its name from? Arthur Chappell has put together a whole book on esoterically named pubs. Here he chooses some of his favourites in London — some now gone, others still with us.
Blind Beggar, Whitechapel
The sign for this notorious pub (the location of the murder of George Cornell by Ronnie Kray) relates to the legend of Henry III supporter Henry de Montford, killed at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. In the 17th century a ballad surfaced claiming that Montford survived the conflict, though blinded and reduced to begging on the streets of Bethnal Green, guided by his dutiful daughter. (Author's image)
Tiddy Dols, Mayfair (now closed)
Tiddy was an 18th century gingerbread seller in London, immortalised in the William Hogarth engraving The Idle Prentice Executed at Tyburn. Tiddy can be seen in the foreground of the sign, selling his wares to the crowd gathering to watch the executions.
Defector's Weld, Shepherd's Bush
The image here presents a tape recorder, suggesting a James Bond connection. However, it isn’t fictional espionage the pub relates to but a real spy, Guy Burgess, one of the notorious 'Cambridge Five' defectors serving the KGB British secrets from respectable MI5 positions. Burgess drank here while working as a BBC broadcaster. (Author’s image)
Black Friar, Blackfriars
Named after a Dominican friary, this pub and its statue sign (designed by architect Herbert Fuller-Clark) was saved from closure through a campaign led by poet John Betjeman. (Author’s image)
Latymers, Hammersmith
The sign confuses William Latymer, friend and biographer of Anne Boleyn, and the later Hugh Latimer, one of three Oxford Martyrs — Anglican bishops burnt at the stake on the orders of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1555. William Latymer died much more peacefully.
Solomon Grundy, Angel (now closed)
Inspired by a nursery rhyme character who lived his entire life in a single week:
Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday.
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy.
Kings Stores, Spitalfields
The king seems to be inviting us to share in booze from his own special stash of hidden barrels. The inn was actually a military gunpowder ammunition store in the 18th century. (Author’s image)
Cockpit, the City
Until its ban in 1835, pubs were popular venues for such cockfights. The Cockpit sign recreates the brutal reality of these showdowns.
Betsey Trotwood, Farringdon
Great-aunt to Charles Dickens's eponymous hero from David Copperfield, Betsey begins the 1850 novel disliking men after an abusive marriage, but gradually comes to respect and aid David as his story unfolds.
Essex Serpent, Covent Garden (now closed)
In 1669 there were several sightings of a serpentine dragon in Saffron Walden, Essex. A 2016 novel by Sarah Perry and a 2022 TV mini-series based on this, called The Essex Serpent, drew on the serpent sightings into the Victorian era. The sign offers a beast with glistening scales, as tall as the background mountains, breathing steam and looking utterly malevolent.
Aeronaut, Acton (temporarily closed)
Tightrope walking under a hot-air balloon — dangerous! The pub is named after a very different aerial daredevil: George Lee Temple, the first pilot to ever fly a plane upside down. (Author's image).
Lord Moon of the Mall (now closed)
There is no Lord Moon. The portrait subject is Tim Martin, the controversial pro-Brexit founder
of J. D. Wetherspoon. Perhaps he hopes to be granted a peerage for his services. (Author’s image)
Pub Signs by Arthur Chappell, published by Amberley Publishing
Images © Amberley Publishing or, where stated, the author.
