Sci Fi

The Blind Beggar Pub

August 28, 2017

BHDA89 The Blind Beggar - A pub in East London-Guinness

The Blind Beggar is a famous pub on Whitechapel Road in Whitechapel, East London, England. It is was here that the first modern Brown Ale was brewed for Manns Albion brewery. It was built in 1894 and takes its name from the legend of Henry de Montfort, a son of Simon de Montfort (who led the rebellion against King Henry III of England).

The Blind Beggar pub is notorious for the murder of George Cornell (one of the rival Richardsons gang) by Ronnie Kray. On 9 March 1966, East End gangster, Ronnie Kray, one of the Kray twins, walked into the saloon bar of the Blind Beggar Pub and in full view of the customers, shot George Cornell through the head, as he was sitting at the bar,

It is also the location of William Booth’s first sermon, which led to the creation of The Salvation Army. The pub is also a popular starting point for the Monopoly Pub Crawl, and was previously owned by Bobby Moore.

Henry de Montfort legend
in 1265, Henry De Montfort was wounded and lost his sight in the Battle of Evesham. He was nursed to health by a baroness, and together they had a child named Besse. Percy’s Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, published in 1765, tells the story of how he became the “Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green” and used to beg at the crossroads. This story of how he went from landed gentry to poor beggar became popular in the Tudor era.

My visit to the Blind Beggar Pub
As the Blind Beggar Pub is in my book, Dominion First Blood, I decided to visit the pub and got chatting with a friendly local, Bob Fox, retired from the 2nd Royal Regiment Infantry. We had a couple of pints of beer together and he reminisced of the days when Mad Frankie Fraser (a notorious member of the Richardson gang) used to visit the pub and pointed out where George Cornell was shot.

This friendly pub (the gangster days are gone now!) is run by Landlord David Dobson. It has an excellent selection of ales and craft beers and friendly staff.