What links a champion bare-knuckle boxer, a pioneering general who inspired the invention of Ordnance Survey maps and a runaway cat? They’ve all given their names to London pubs.
The book What’s in a London pub name? by James Potts and Sam Cullen features over 650 pub names across all 32 London boroughs as well as the City of London, revealing the stories of Elizabethan actors, puritanical plotters, Titanic survivors, treasured cuddly toys and many many more.
The authors say: “Each pub contributes to our understanding of London, taking in its political, cultural and social history.”
Adding: “The book is for anyone wanting to learn more about London through the unique medium of one of its most enduring and endearing institutions, pubs. Read this and you’ll never look at your local in the same way again!”
So, what about in our beautiful Bermondsey and Rotherhithe? The two have kindly given The Biscuit a sneak peek at the meaning behind some SE1 and SE16 institutions…
Ancient Foresters
This derives from the friendly society (a sort of community-led organisation providing banking, savings and other financial products) set up in 1834 called the Ancient Order of Foresters.
The organisation still exists today, albeit with the shortened title of Foresters Friendly Society. Foresters is a more common variant of the pub name, with a handful in London and the South East alone, those retaining the “Ancient” prefix are rarer.
282 Southwark Park Road, SE16 2HB
Moby Dick
This pub surfaced in the 1980s as part of a massive redevelopment of the Greenland Dock area, which included new residential luxury property developments. The use of the name Moby Dick hints back to Greenland Dock’s early use in the 19th century by the whaling industry.
6 Russell Place, Greenland Dock, SE16 7PL
Simon the Tanner
The Bermondsey area was once a hotbed of the tanning industry (the name for the process that takes the animal hides to create leather, as opposed to the type popular with reality TV stars).
Simon the Tanner is thought to refer to the patron saint of this trade from the Coptic Orthodox Church, who was a shoemaker and is said to have moved Mokattam Mountain in Cairo in the 10th century. There is now a monastery and church named after Saint Simon carved into Mokattam Mountain, which was featured in Levison Wood’s Channel 4 Documentary, Walking The Nile.
231 Long Lane, Bermondsey, SE1 4PR
Market Porter
A double meaning here, with a porter both being someone working at the market (in this case, Borough) as well as being a type of strong dark beer.
The pub has also become famous worldwide for being used in one of the Harry Potter films as the Third Hand Book Emporium.
9 Stoney Street, SE1 9AA
You can buy What’s in a London pub name? online at: www.capitaltransport.com/whats-in-a-london-pub-name-856-p.asp
- The Ship and Whale cover photo credit: Shepherd Neame
