Tag Archives: pub history

One pub in London split between two buildings

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EVERY PUB HAS its own characteristics. Some of these establishments are more distinctive than others.  The Ship and Shovell pub in Craven Passage near to Charing Cross station distinguishes itself from all other London pubs by being housed in two separate buildings separated by a public thoroughfare.

The two houses that house the pub’s two halves were built in the early 1730s, but have been modified since then. Until 1998, one building was The Ship pub and the other, facing it, was a separate establishment, The Shovell pub. Shovell either refers to coal workers who laboured in the area, or to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c1650 –1707), who died at sea near the Isles of Scilly. In 1998, the two pubs were united when their two separate underground cellars were connected to each other with a common kitchen.

So, after 1998, what had once been two pubs became one but housed in two separate buildings. As a sign outside one of the parts of the pub reads, The Ship and Shovell is:

“The only London pub in two halves”

When I next visit it, I will have half a pint in one half and another half in the other half.

Once there were two in Hampstead; now there is only one

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YESTERDAY (16th SEPTEMBER 2023), we met one of my cousins in Hampstead village.  We ate a very satisfactory lunch at The Flask pub in Flask Walk. We chose items from the ‘brunch menu’. Each of the three dishes we ordered was tasty and generous in portion size. The dish with wild mushrooms was exceptionally good.

Long ago, there were two pubs with the word Flask in their names in Hampstead: The Upper Flask and the Lower Flask. The Upper Flask was located close to where East Heath Road meets the top (northernmost) end of Heath Street, close to Whitestone Pond. It was a meeting place for noteworthy cultural figures, but it was closed in 1750. The pub in Flask Walk, where we ate lunch, was known as The Lower Flask. Here is something about it from my book “Beneath a Wide Sky: Hampstead and its Environs”:

“Once upon a time, Hampstead had two pubs or taverns whose names contained the word ‘Flask’. This is not surprising because the word ‘flask’ used to be common in the naming of pubs. One of them, the erstwhile Upper Flask, has already been described. The other, the once named ‘Lower Flask’, now renamed, is on Flask Walk, not far from Hampstead high Street. The Upper Flask was a remarkable establishment, as already described. It figures several times in ‘Clarissa’, a lengthy novel by Samuel Richardson (1689-1761), first published in 1747. The Lower Flask pub (in Flask Walk) is also mentioned in the novel, but unflatteringly, as:

“… a place where second-rate persons are to be found often in a swinish condition …”

Unlike the Upper Flask, the Lower Flask is still in business, but much, including its name and clientele, has changed since Richardson published his novel. Located at the eastern end of the pedestrianised stretch of Flask Walk, the Lower Flask, now The Flask, was rebuilt in 1874. Formerly, it had been a thatched building and was a place where mineral water from Hampstead’s chalybeate springs was sold. Oddly, despite visiting Hampstead literally innumerable times during the last more than 65 years, it was only on Halloween 2021 that I first set foot in the Flask pub, and I am pleased that I did. The front rooms of the pub retain much of their Victorian charm and the rear rooms, one of them with a glass roof, are spacious.”

Although the Flask Pub is interesting enough, there are plenty more interesting places to see along Flask Walk and in other parts of Hampstead. You can discover these by reading my book, which is available from Amazon websites such as:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BENEATH-WIDE-SKY-HAMPSTEAD-ENVIRONS/dp/B09R2WRK92/