On 19 December 1984, in the Hall of the People in Beijing, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed an agreement committing Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong, a small peninsula and group of islands jutting out from China’s Kwangtung province, was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.

Romford
Romford is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering and one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.

Romford was originally a market town in Essex. The town developed on the main road to London with Romford Market was established in 1247. The railway station open in 1839 which was key to the development of the Star Brewery. The Eastern Counties Railway services operated between Mile End and Romford, with extensions to Brentwood and to Shoreditch in 1840. A second station was opened in 1892 by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, giving Romford a rail connection to Tilbury Docks. The two stations were combined in 1934. There was a shift from agriculture to light industry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and then to retail and commerce. In the 20th century, Romford significantly expanded, becoming a municipal borough in 1937 and part of Greater London since 1965 when the area was transferred from Essex.

TUM Book Club: Old Covent Garden
The magic of the old Covent Garden Market is evoked through Clive Boursnell’s photographs, taken over the course of numerous visits to Covent Garden in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s Clive Boursnell, then a young photographer, shot thousands of photographs of the old Covent Garden, documenting the end of an era before the markets moved out of central London. Boursnell captured these last days of the market over a period of six years, from 1968 until the market’s closure, in a series of beautiful portraits of the feisty life of a city institution.

Fox Hill, Upper Norwood by Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) Camille Pissarro was born in St Thomas (then a Danish possession) in the West Indies but lived and worked mainly in the Paris area. He was an Impressionist and mainly painted landscapes. He visited London in 1870-71 and painted London views.

National Gallery, London

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.

TUM Dine With Me: Duke of Cornwall
The Duke of Cornwall pub morphed into the uber-trendy “The Ledbury” restaurant.

The Duke Of Cornwall was situated at 127 Ledbury Road. This former Courage pub adopted the name of the Ledbury Arms following the closure of a pub of the same name at 40 Ledbury Road and closed c. 2005. The Ledbury restaurant opened on the site in 2005, under head chef Brett Graham. As such, it has been featured in S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants. It is the sister restaurant of The Square, a two Michelin star restaurant in Mayfair, with the same backers investing in both restaurants.

On 19 December 1984, in the Hall of the People in Beijing, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed an agreement committing Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong, a small peninsula and group of islands jutting out from China’s Kwangtung province, was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.

Ravenscourt Park
Ravenscourt Park is served by the District line and is located between Hammersmith and Stamford Brook stations.

Ravenscourt Park station shares its name with the nearby Ravenscourt Park open space. The line through the station was opened on 1 January 1869 by the London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) on a new branch line to Richmond. Ravenscourt Park station was opened as Shaftesbury Road by the L&SWR on 1 April 1873. On 1 June 1877, the District Railway opened a short extension from its terminus at Hammersmith to connect to the L&SWR tracks east of Ravenscourt Park station. The District then began running trains over the L&SWR tracks to Richmond. The Richmond branch was a major stimulus to residential development along the route and traffic on the line was high. On 1 March 1888, the station was given its present name in advance of the nearby park being opened to the public. Following the electrification of its tracks north of Acton Town in 1903, the District funded the electrification of the tracks through Ravenscourt Park in July 1905. Services on the Piccadilly line began running through Ravenscourt Park without stopping there on 4 July 1932.

Tube Mapper Project
Photographer Luke Agbaimoni created the Tube Mapper project allowing him to be creative, fitting photography around his lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute.

The Underground is the backbone of the city of London, a part of our identity. It’s a network of shared experiences and visual memories, and most Londoners and visitors to the city will at some point have an interaction with the London Underground tube and train network. Photographer Luke Agbaimoni gave up city-scape night photography after the birth of his first child, but creating the Tube Mapper project allowed him to continue being creative, fitting photography around his new lifestyle and adding stations on his daily commute. His memorable photographs consider such themes as symmetry, reflections, tunnels and escalators, as well as simply pointing out and appreciating the way the light falls on a platform in an evening sunset. This book reveals the London every commuter knows in a unique, vibrant and arresting style.

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TUM Dine With Me: Gibraltar Tavern
The Gibraltar Tavern (a.k.a. The Gib) was situated at 28 Gibraltar Walk, Bethnal Green.

This pub was present before 1750 with an address is 11 Gibraltar Walk in 1882 and earlier, prior to street renumbering. The post-war Avebury Estate was extended in 1963 by four small blocks west of the existing late 1940s estate. The pub disappeared under the site for the block called Cadogan House.

On 19 December 1984, in the Hall of the People in Beijing, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed an agreement committing Britain to return Hong Kong to China in 1997 in return for terms guaranteeing a 50-year extension of its capitalist system. Hong Kong, a small peninsula and group of islands jutting out from China’s Kwangtung province, was leased by China to Great Britain in 1898 for 99 years.

Queenstown Road
Queenstown Road is a station in Battersea between Vauxhall and Clapham Junction.

Queenstown Road was opened on 1 November 1877 by the London and South Western Railway. It was first known as Queen’s Road (Battersea). Queen’s Road was the original name of the road on which the station is located, changed to Queenstown Road. The station was renamed Queenstown Road (Battersea) to match the road on 12 May 1980. The station building date from both 1877 and 1909 – yellow stock brick with a red and glazed brick front and a slate roof to the street building. The 1909 building contains the booking office and has the ticket windows painted in the colours of the Southern Railway. Queenstown Road is a short walk from both Battersea Park station and Battersea Park to the west.

Video: You Can’t Always Get What You Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line

TUM Dine With Me: Albion
The Albion stopped being a pub early.

The Albion was situated at 34 Southern Row. This pub is now in residential use.

On 16 December 1916 (new style), Rasputin was murdered. While he was alive, witnesses, including doctors and skeptics, concluded he possessed some inexplicable power over the Tsarevich and his deadly episodes of bleeding. This mysterious ability to heal her son was enough to convince Aleksandra that Rasputin, whatever people said of him, must have been sent by God. One evening at a meeting of Russian officials, it was decided that Rasputin was putting the entire nation in danger. Three men, Prince Feliks Yusupov (husband of the Tsar’s niece), Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (a member of the duma) and the Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich (the Tsar’s cousin) took control of the situation. With an intricate plan, the three invited Rasputin over to the Yusupov Palace to meet the Tsar’s beautiful niece. While waiting for her to appear, the men fed Rasputin poisoned wine and tea cakes. They did not affect him. Dismay came over Yusupov and he shot Rasputin. Miraculously, Rasputin staggered out into the courtyard where Purishkevich and Pavlovich were preparing to leave the palace. Purishkevich shot the staggering Rasputin again, but it was only when they bound his body and threw it into the Neva River that he died.

Purley Oaks
Purley Oaks station was opened by the London Brighton and South Coast Railway on 5 November 1899

Nearby, Brighton Road school was built in 1873 when the area was still undeveloped and livestock grazed at Purley Oaks Farm until the end of Victoria’s reign. The conditions of the sale at auction of Purley Oaks Farm in 1903 included the provision that houses were built for the professional classes. The station was opened as part of the improvements to the main line and the opening of the Quarry Line. However much of the surrounding land remained agricultural until the First World War. In 1916 James Relf established a market garden near the station. The school was renamed Purley Oaks in 1922 as the area started to develop with suburban housing. A short walk away from Purley Oaks is Sanderstead railway station with services to Victoria and East Grinstead. On Saturday 4 March 1989, it was affected by the Purley station rail crash.

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TUM Dine With Me: Penge
The Black Boy public house stood on the Mile End Road.

This pub was present by 1750; in 1856, listed as 9½ Mile End Road but at 179 Mile End Road in 1910. It was re-built in its present form in 1904 at the time of the construction of Stepney Green Station. The pub closed in c.1996 and the building now houses two fast food outlets (2006). It also traded as the Farmers Arms in the 1940s and as Fifth Avenue in its final years. From 137 Mile End Road to the Black Boy Tavern, the houses are all pulled down in 1902 for the construction of the Whitechapel & Bow Railway. Until 1902, the pub had an alleyway connecting it to the mysterious XX Place.

On 16 December 1916 (new style), Rasputin was murdered. While he was alive, witnesses, including doctors and skeptics, concluded he possessed some inexplicable power over the Tsarevich and his deadly episodes of bleeding. This mysterious ability to heal her son was enough to convince Aleksandra that Rasputin, whatever people said of him, must have been sent by God. One evening at a meeting of Russian officials, it was decided that Rasputin was putting the entire nation in danger. Three men, Prince Feliks Yusupov (husband of the Tsar’s niece), Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (a member of the duma) and the Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich (the Tsar’s cousin) took control of the situation. With an intricate plan, the three invited Rasputin over to the Yusupov Palace to meet the Tsar’s beautiful niece. While waiting for her to appear, the men fed Rasputin poisoned wine and tea cakes. They did not affect him. Dismay came over Yusupov and he shot Rasputin. Miraculously, Rasputin staggered out into the courtyard where Purishkevich and Pavlovich were preparing to leave the palace. Purishkevich shot the staggering Rasputin again, but it was only when they bound his body and threw it into the Neva River that he died.

Plumstead
The eastern end of the site of the former Royal Arsenal forms Plumstead’s northern boundary.

It means ’place where the plum trees grew’ and was first recorded around 970 as ’Plumstede’. For most of its history, the village was of little consequence. Plumstead station opened in 1859. The Herbert estate was laid out north of Shooters Hill. To the south of the railway, Burrage Road was laid out and the first terraces of ’Burrage Town’ were built on Sandy Hill Road. Plumstead expanded rapidly in the 1880s with housing developed for Arsenal workers, two-up two-down terraced housing was common in the area close to the river. The downsizing of Woolwich Arsenal after the First World War brought a decline to Plumstead. After the Second World War council projects transformed the western side of Plumstead. The largest of these was the Glyndon estate, with almost 2,000 dwellings, which was begun in 1959 and completed in 1981.

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.

TUM Dine With Me: De Hems
De Hems has become a base for London’s Dutch community, serving bitterballen and frikandellen.

De Hems is on the site of the Horse & Dolphin coaching inn which was built in 1685 and had been owned by bare-knuckle boxer Bill ’The Black Terror’ Richmond in the early 19th century. This was rebuilt in 1890 by the accomplished pub architects, Saville and Martin, for the publican, Mr Crimmen. It was renamed The Macclesfield, being in Macclesfield Street, and was soon leased by a retired Dutch sea captain called “Papa” De Hem who ran it as an oyster-house, charging a shilling and fourpence ha’penny for a serving. It was patronised by fin-de-siècle literati such as the poet Swinburne, who travelled 10 miles daily to eat oysters at the long marble bar. In the early 20th century, literary figures such as Clemence Dane continued to purchase the establishment’s oysters, stout and champagne for their theatrical celebrations. When World War I started, patriotic Papa De Hem gave his staff £50 each to return to their threatened country. In the 1920s, it became the hangout of gangsters. During World War II, after the Netherlands fell to the German invasion, Dutch resistance exiles then met regularly at the pub which became their unofficial headquarters. In 1959, it was renamed De Hems in honour of Papa De Hem.

On 15 December 1966, animation pioneer Walt Disney died. Born on a Missouri farm, Walt Disney sold his first sketches to neighbours when he was just seven, and he attended the Kansas City Art Institute at night while he was in high school. At age 16, during World War I, Disney went overseas with the Red Cross and drove an ambulance that he decorated with cartoon characters. Back in Kansas City, Disney started working as an advertising cartoonist. He founded a company called Laugh-O-Gram with his older brother, Roy, but the company went bankrupt and the brothers left Kansas City for Hollywood with $40 and some art supplies. The brothers built a camera stand in their uncle’s garage and started their company in the back of a Hollywood real estate office. Walt Disney began making a series of animated short films called Alice in Cartoonland and began developing various animated characters. In 1928, he introduced Mickey Mouse in two silent movies. Mickey debuted on the big screen in Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronised sound cartoon ever made. Walt Disney provided Mickey’s squeaky voice himself. The company went on to produce a series of sound cartoons, such as the “Silly Symphony” series, which included The Three Little Pigs (1933) and introduced characters like Donald Duck and Goofy. When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937, it was the first fully animated movie to date and grossed $8 million, an incredible success during the Depression. During World War II, Disney devoted most of his company’s resources to the production of training and propaganda films for the military. In 1965, he designed the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which he envisioned as an aid toward improving the quality of life in American cities. He also helped establish the California Institute of the Arts in 1961. His 43-year career earned him nearly 1000 honours and citations from throughout the world, including 48 Academy Awards and seven Emmys. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, France’s Legion of Honour and Officer d’Academie decorations, Thailand’s Order of the Crown, Brazil’s Order of the Southern Cross, Mexico’s Order of the Aztec Eagle, and the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners. In addition to his films, his legend lives on through Disneyland, Walt Disney World, the EPCOT Center, and sites throughout the world.

Orpington
Orpington is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bromley in Greater London and lies at the south-eastern edge of London’s urban area.

Stone Age tools have been found in several areas of Orpington, including Goddington Park, Priory Gardens, the Ramsden estate, and Poverest. Early Bronze Age pottery fragments have been found in the Park Avenue area. During the building of Ramsden Boys School in 1956, the remains of an Iron Age farmstead were excavated. The area was occupied in Roman times, as shown by Crofton Roman Villa and the Roman bath-house at Fordcroft. During the Anglo-Saxon period, Fordcroft Anglo-Saxon cemetery was used in the area. The first record of the name Orpington occurs in 1038, when King Cnut’s treasurer Eadsy gave land at “Orpedingetune” to the Monastery of Christ Church at Canterbury. The parish church also pre-dates the Domesday Book. On 22 July 1573, Queen Elizabeth I was entertained at Bark Hart (Orpington Priory) and her horses stabled at the Anchor and Hope Inn (Orpington High Street). On the southern edge of Orpington, Green St Green is recorded as ’Grenstretre’, which means a road covered with grass. It is known in the 1800s as Greenstead Green. Until the railway came, the local commercial centre was nearby St Mary Cray, rather than Orpington. St Mary Cray had a regular market, and industry (paper mills and bell foundry), whereas Orpington was just a small country village surrounded by soft fruit farms, hop fields and orchards. These crops attracted Romani people, working as itinerant pickers, to annual camps in local meadows and worked-out chalk pits. This work has largely ended, but the Borough still provides a permanent site at Star Lane, and the gatherings are commemorated in local street names, such as Romany Rise. Orpington station was opened on 2 March 1868 by the South Eastern Railway (SER), when the SER opened its cut-off line between Chislehurst and Sevenoaks. The line was widened and the station rebuilt in 1904, expanding to six platforms. Third rail electrification reached Orpington in 1925, and extended to Sevenoaks in 1935.

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TUM Dine With Me: Camden Head
The Camden Head is one of the oldest pubs in Camden, London, England having been established in 1787.

The Camden Head’s architecture has changed little since its establishment in the 19th century. Nowadays, it is known for its comedy venue, which has seen comedians such as Alan Carr, Stephen Merchant, Lee Kern and Bob Mortimer perform. It is not to be confused with The Camden Head in Islington, which is situated on Camden Passage.

On 15 December 1966, animation pioneer Walt Disney died. Born on a Missouri farm, Walt Disney sold his first sketches to neighbours when he was just seven, and he attended the Kansas City Art Institute at night while he was in high school. At age 16, during World War I, Disney went overseas with the Red Cross and drove an ambulance that he decorated with cartoon characters. Back in Kansas City, Disney started working as an advertising cartoonist. He founded a company called Laugh-O-Gram with his older brother, Roy, but the company went bankrupt and the brothers left Kansas City for Hollywood with $40 and some art supplies. The brothers built a camera stand in their uncle’s garage and started their company in the back of a Hollywood real estate office. Walt Disney began making a series of animated short films called Alice in Cartoonland and began developing various animated characters. In 1928, he introduced Mickey Mouse in two silent movies. Mickey debuted on the big screen in Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronised sound cartoon ever made. Walt Disney provided Mickey’s squeaky voice himself. The company went on to produce a series of sound cartoons, such as the “Silly Symphony” series, which included The Three Little Pigs (1933) and introduced characters like Donald Duck and Goofy. When Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released in 1937, it was the first fully animated movie to date and grossed $8 million, an incredible success during the Depression. During World War II, Disney devoted most of his company’s resources to the production of training and propaganda films for the military. In 1965, he designed the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT), which he envisioned as an aid toward improving the quality of life in American cities. He also helped establish the California Institute of the Arts in 1961. His 43-year career earned him nearly 1000 honours and citations from throughout the world, including 48 Academy Awards and seven Emmys. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, France’s Legion of Honour and Officer d’Academie decorations, Thailand’s Order of the Crown, Brazil’s Order of the Southern Cross, Mexico’s Order of the Aztec Eagle, and the Showman of the World Award from the National Association of Theatre Owners. In addition to his films, his legend lives on through Disneyland, Walt Disney World, the EPCOT Center, and sites throughout the world.

North Dulwich
North Dulwich, despite being a Victorian-era station is an estate agent invention as a district.

Given the cache of the term ’Dulwich’, the half of Herne Hill which lies in the London Borough of Southwark rather than Lambeth has recently become the ‘North Dulwich Triangle’ which is comprised of the roads contained within the triangle bordered by Half Moon Lane, Herne Hill and Red Post Hill. North Dulwich station itself – just about within the triangle – was designed in a hybrid classical style by Charles Barry, Jr. and built in 1868 by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. It is listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England as is the K6 telephone kiosk inside the portico of the station.

Video: You Can’t Always Get What You Wanstead
Jago Hazzard went to the far reaches of the Central Line

TUM Dine With Me: George Tavern
The George Tavern contains original brickwork some 700 years old.

Formerly known as the Halfway House, the George Tavern’s building contains original brickwork some 700 years old, and is mentioned in texts by Geoffrey Chaucer, Samuel Pepys and Charles Dickens. Evidence shows that the Halfway House was rebuilt in the 18th century, sometime after 1745, a little to the northeast of the earlier inn. The present building was probably built between 1820 and 1825 and first appears on Greenwood’s map of 1827. This version of the pub forms part of the development of Commercial Road, which was created following the Commercial Road Act of 1802 to link the newly built East India Docks and West India Docks to the boundary of the City of London. The pub was remodelled in 1862 by James Harrison. In the 1970s, a nightclub – Stepneys – was added in a back building, noted for its illuminated dance floor but the pub was forced to close around the time of the new millennium. In 2002, artist Pauline Forster bought the derelict building at auction and reopened it as a music, performance, arts venue and pub.

On 14 December 2003, the ousted President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was captured by US soldiers. “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” US administrator Paul Bremer told journalists in Baghdad. “The tyrant is a prisoner.” Saddam Hussein was found hidden in a tiny bunker at a farmhouse about 15 kilometres south of his home town, Tikrit. Saddam Hussein was officially given prisoner of war status in January 2004. The International Committee of the Red Cross visited him in February 2004. After a period of interrogation by US forces in an undisclosed location, he was transferred to Iraqi legal custody at the end of June 2004, shortly after the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) handed power back to Iraq.

New Southgate
New Southgate was formerly known as the hamlet of Betstile.

Before 1815 most of the houses lay in Hertfordshire or Edmonton, apart from Betstile House on the corner of Friern Barnet and Oakleigh roads, but by 1846 others stood north of the road, on the site of the former Friern great park, and the former Friern Little park in Oakleigh Road had been divided into plots with cottages. Since the mid 19th century Betstile has been better known as New Southgate. The railway station was built in 1851 as Colney Hatch & New Southgate or Colney Hatch changed its name five times such as from New Southgate for Colney Hatch to New Southgate and Friern Barnet on 1 May 1923; its current name dates to 1971.

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TUM Dine With Me: Earl of Zetland
The Earl of Zetland – a pub in the Potteries

The Earl of Zetland was a pub located in Princedale Road. It was also, in its time, called The Tuscan and Bar One One Six. The address is now given as 116 Princedale Road, previously it was at 116 Princes Street. After being derelict for quite a while, an application was made to demolish it but the borough turned this down. Instead it was converted into an office (basement, ground and first floor levels) and a two bedroom flat. Some scenes of the 1966 film ’Blow Up’ by Michelangelo Antonioni were filmed nearby.

On 14 December 2003, the ousted President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, was captured by US soldiers. “Ladies and gentlemen, we got him,” US administrator Paul Bremer told journalists in Baghdad. “The tyrant is a prisoner.” Saddam Hussein was found hidden in a tiny bunker at a farmhouse about 15 kilometres south of his home town, Tikrit. Saddam Hussein was officially given prisoner of war status in January 2004. The International Committee of the Red Cross visited him in February 2004. After a period of interrogation by US forces in an undisclosed location, he was transferred to Iraqi legal custody at the end of June 2004, shortly after the US-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) handed power back to Iraq.

Mortlake
Mortlake lies on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes.

Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. The Stuart and Georgian history was economically one of malting, brewing, farming, watermen and a great tapestry works. The Waterloo to Reading railway line runs through Mortlake – the station opened on 27 July 1846. The University Boat Race finishes at Mortlake every March/April.

Video: Flying into LCY
A simulated flight into LCY courtesy of Google Earth Studio.

TUM Dine With Me: Kensington Park Hotel
The KPH is a landmark pub on Ladbroke Grove.

The Kensington Park Hotel (KPH), standing on the corner of Ladbroke Grove and Lancaster Road and the pub which Timothy Evans – executed in place of John Christie – was fond of drinking in. It is a traditional public house right on the edge of Portobello Market and Notting Hill with untouched original features and beautiful Victorian décor. Steeped in history, The KPH was the favoured watering hole of the English politician Oswald Mosely and a place where Tom Jones performed for the huge fee of £10 during the early days of his career. The KPH Theatre Bar was also home to the Kensington Park Theatre Club in 1986, it reopened in 1988 as the Chair Theatre and then finally changed its name to the Grove Theatre in 1990 which hosted many years of performances.

On 13 December 1920, the first measurement of the size of a fixed star was made on Betelgeuse, the bright red star in the right shoulder of Orion, which was found to be 260 million miles in diameter – 150 times greater than the Sun. Dr. Francis G. Pease made the measurement on the 100-inch telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory using a beam interferometer designed by Professor A. A. Michelson. Betelgeuse was selected as the first test object since theoretical calculations had suggested that the star was unusually great in size. The apparent angular size of Betelgeuse was found to average about .044 arcseconds. Direct interferometer measurements can only be used with large stars. The majority of stars rely upon more indirect methods of determining stellar sizes.

Mitcham Eastfields
Mitcham Eastfields is a railway station which opened on 2 June 2008.

Eastfields is an area situated between Mitcham and Streatham. It is home to St Mark’s Academy and the area has two council estates, Laburnum and Eastfields Estate, 5 minutes away from each other. Proposals for the station at Mitcham Eastfields had existed since the 1930s. Initially known as simply ’Eastfields’ during planning and construction, building started in October 2007. Mitcham Eastfields cost £6 million to put into operation and it was the second station to be built to a modular design developed by Network Rail.

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TUM Dine With Me: The Black Lion
The Old Black Lion was established in 1751 as a beer house.

The village of West End had a beerhouse, the Old Black Lion, and surprisingly for such a small village, two pubs, The Black Horse established in 1751 and the Cock and Hoop. Beerhouses differed from taverns in that they could on;y serve beer to their patrons. The Black Lion was rebuilt in 1912 and outstayed both nearby rivals. The Black Horse fell out of the running in the 1860s with the Cock & Hoop closing in 1896. As West Hampstead built up, newer rivals took their place. The Black Lion remains though.