The Pub in Literature: England's Altered State, by Steven Earnshaw
David Copperfield (1850)
| 'I was such a child, and so little, that frequently when I went into the bar of a strange public-house for a glass of ale or porter, to moisten what I had had for dinner, they were afraid to give it me. | |
I remember one hot evening I went into the bar of a public-house and said to the landlord: 'What is your best - your very best - ale a glass?' For it was a special occasion. I don't know what. It may have been my birthday.' |
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The Blue Boar Whitechapel. Defunct. The Buck Inn (Unnamed) Yarmouth. Extant. The Duke's Head (Unnamed) Yarmouth. Where David meets the waiter. Extant. The Feathers (Unnamed) Gorleston - 'the decent ale-house' on the road to Lowestoft. Extant? The Fountain Inn (Unnamed) Canterbury. A renowned hostelry, once declared to be the best inn in Canterbury and therefore the best in the country. It is referred to as 'the county inn' in the novel. Extant (Royal Fountain Hotel). The Fox under the Hill (Unnamed) Adelphi. The 'little public-house close to the river'. The Golden Cross Charing Cross. David meets Steerforth there. Also mentioned in The Pickwick Papers. The Gray's Inn Coffee-House Also mentioned in The Old Curiosity Shop. Extant? Jack Straw's Castle (Unnamed) Hampstead. The place is alluded to when David takes breakfast on Hampstead Heath. It was popular with Dickens in his early years. Other famous people associated with it are Washington Irving, Thackeray, du Maurier. 'The Castle' is mentioned in Richardson's Clarissa (Matz, pp.161ff). The Piazza Hotel Covent Garden. A favourite haunt of Sheridan and John Kemble. The Plough Blunderstone. Extant. The Red Lion (Unnamed) When David asks for a pint of 'your very best ale', according to Foster's Life, the incident is based on Dickens's own childhood. The pub was the Red Lion, 48 Parliament Street, corner of Derby Street. It was demolished in 1899, although another of the same name was erected on the spot. The Royal Hotel (Unnamed) Lowestoft. Extant. The Star Hotel (Unnamed) Yarmouth. When David and Steerforth visit Peggoty's they stay here. We first meet Miss Mowcher here. Extant. The Swan (Unnamed) The 'little, dirty, tumble-down public-house' at the bottom of Hungerford Stairs. Micawber's family lodge here before leaving for Australia, and it is where Mr Micawber insists on making his famous punch. The Sun Inn (Unnamed) Canterbury. In Sun Street. Extant. The Village Maid (Unnamed) Lound. On the road between Dan Peggoty's and Yarmouth. Defunct. The Willing Mind The White Swan (Unnamed) Hungerford Stairs. Extant? |