George Inn

“ The atmosphere of romance, indeed, which has always surrounded the many old coaching inns of Southwark in the past is still reflected in the "George" of the present day. It is not only the last of its race there, but the last to remain in London. Little wonder, then, that it is a favourite of all who, like Mr. Hardcastle, "love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine," for all these desirable things may be found in association with the George Inn to-day. ”

“ Although the present building of "The George Inn" is not older than the end of the seventeenth century, it seems to have been rebuilt, after the fire, upon the old plan, and it still preserves the character of the ancient English inns, having open wooden galleries leading to the chambers on each side of the inn yard. ”

“ Added to all these pleasant reflections is the one, almost as uncommon as the Inn itself, that the amiable and good-natured proprietress, Miss Murray, is ever ready to welcome visitors, not merely because she has good wholesome English food and drink to dispense, but because she loves the old Inn and likes others to love it too. She maintains all the old traditions that such a place abounds in, and we can only hope that she will long remain to act as hostess, and that the ravages of the modern builder will never reach the walls of the old-time building. ”

“ If you step aside up George Yard, which is next to the 'White Hart' yard, you may see the old George Inn which, with its low ceilings, ancient rafters and old wooden galleries outside, closely resembles what the 'White Hart' used to be, and gives us an idea of the inn yards in which the strolling players of Shakespeare's time used to set up their stages. ”

“ At an inn styled the “George” you do expect, more than at any other sign, to find old-fashioned comfort; and here, at that little forgotten townlet of Odiham, lying secluded away back from the Exeter Road, with its one extravagantly broad and singularly empty street, and no historic memories much later than the reign of King John, you have a typical cheery hostelry whose white frontage looks coaching age incarnated, and whose interior surprises you—as often these old houses do—with oaken beams and Elizabethan panelled coffee-room and Jacobean overmantel. ”

“ We do not know of one complete instance, except the little disused Coach and Horses in York Street, Westminster, which is neither large nor beautiful. Fragments of galleries exist at the old [Pg 87] George Inn in the Borough, where they are in several stories; at the George at Huntingdon; the Golden Lion at St. Ives, and the New Inn at Gloucester; but the finest remaining gallery is at the Bull at Dartford. The Bull at Long Melford owns a glazed gallery, running along the side of the yard next the inn, said to have served to facilitate the loading of luggage on the coaches. ”

“ I have often heard it said that the touring cyclist has caused the revival of wayside inns. It may be so, but the touring cyclist seems to be very easily satisfied. Unless we are greatly deceived by the old writers, an English inn used to be a delightful resort, abounding in comfort, and supplied with the best of food; a place, too, where one was sure of welcome at once hearty and courteous. The inns of to-day, in country towns and villages, are not in that good old sense inns at all; they are merely public-houses. The landlord’s chief interest is the sale of liquor. ”

“ Great rambling queer old places they are, with galleries and passages and staircases, wide enough and antiquated enough to furnish materials for a hundred ghost stories."—Charles Dickens in The Pickwick Papers.
Certain traditional legends naturally grow round our old London landmarks and, when once started, no matter how conjectural, they are hard to overtake or suppress.
The George Inn, is no exception in this respect, and the legend that is prone to cling to it is that it was the original of the "White Hart" inn of Pickwick fame ”

“ That which still exists is often made pretty in summer with flowers, as may be seen from one of our illustrations. The parts of the inn not devoted to important business are mostly occupied by people who frequent the very bustling Borough Market close at hand. But, alas, like the rest, the glory of the inn is departing! ”

“ Corner expressly states, and as may be gathered from our account, no part of the actual George Inn is older than 1676. The beams referred to were supposed to have been found by Mr. Evans when making his showroom for hops. Mr. Scholefield died in 1836; his widow continued the business until her death in 1859.
Some years since the "George" was sold to the trustees of Guy's Hospital, which adjoins it on the east ”

“ I had no taste for martyrdom, and had too delicate a stomach to take a wife without love.
I forget the name of the village at which this halt was made, but I remember that the sign of the inn was the "George and Dragon." The place had a long white front, with green shutters to the windows, and over the door a great lamp hung from stanchions let into the wall. I judged that trade was slack, for as I descended from my carriage I saw the landlord standing at the door, smoking a pipe, and winking in the sunlight like a sleepy dog. ”

“ We associate the inn with genial comfort and old English hospitality; the sight of it kindles every good sentiment of human kindness within us, and we hail with enthusiasm the reconciliation of father and child, the union of two constant lovers, and happiness restored all round. There is nothing so successful on the stage as an inn scene.
Artists have also shared in the making of the inns. A host of signboards are attributed to Hogarth or that eccentric and profligate genius, George Morland. ”

“ It is pleasing to be able to bear witness to the thriving trade that continues to be done in this sole ancient survivor of the old Southwark galleried inns, and to note that, however harshly fate, as personified by rapacious landlords, has dealt with its kind, the old-world savour of the inn is thoroughly appreciated by those not generally thought sentimental persons, the commercial men who dine and lunch, and the commercial travellers who sleep there. ”

“ A return is made by the Warden to the Earl of Arundel, that the George Inn, or tenements within it, was built of brick and timber in 1622. The landlord is presented in 1634, and doubtless often besides on other occasions, because he allowed drinking during Divine service. 1637 Taylor, the Water Poet, tells us of the carriers who came from various parts of Surrey and Sussex to lodge at the George. In 1656, some angry poetaster had been served with bad sack at the George, and thus he vents his wrath:—
"The Devil would abhorre such posset-drink. ”

“ To know where the beer is; that is the main thing. Who cares what the sign may be, so long as the booze is there? Swipes are no better for a good sign, nor good ale worse for a bad.
The Brighton Road being so greatly travelled, we may claim for the gallows sign of the “George” at Crawley [3] a greater fame than any other, although that of the “Greyhound” at [Pg 153] Sutton, on an alternative route, is very well known. The once pretty little weather-boarded inn has, unfortunately, of late been rebuilt in a most distressingly ugly fashion. ”

“ Suspended from the wall is the old warming pan, without which no self-respecting inn could be considered complete. Between the kitchen and the bar-parlour, with its cosy sitting-room behind, runs the passage leading to the push-up window through which the waiter or waitress of the tap-room gives his—or her—orders.
The bar parlour itself is just ideal and if you can picture Dickens's description of the bar parlour of "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters" in Our Mutual Friend, or even remember Marcus Stone's picture of it, you will get a good idea of that at the George. ”

“ But in the case of "The George" a very substantial portion is still to be seen as in the olden days. It is indeed the only example of the old galleried coaching inn of the the past now existing in London. ”

“ The oriel window and deeply-recessed lights of the lower storey have a very venerable appearance. The tower is characteristic of the Somerset towers of the fifteenth century. A little lower down on the same{102} side of the street is the celebrated “George Inn,” built for the convenience of the Pilgrims, and this yet remains as an inn, and is the best in Glastonbury. A gatehouse with some fine work inside, forms another inn, not very far distant. ”

“ Set in an historic neighbourhood associated with Shakespeare and the players and, in more modern times, with Dickens and his characters, it has become the rendezvous of a continual flow of literary and antiquarian enthusiasts who never miss an opportunity for a visit to its enticing old-world rooms and exterior.
Literary men, artists and antiquaries on a visit to London still make the Inn their headquarters, and at times there is great competition for one of the two available bedrooms which still retain the old four-poster bedsteads. ”

“ Inside the coffee-room a busy scene can be witnessed at lunch time when the votaries of the Hop Exchange take their mid-day meal and smoke afterwards round the fire, seated in tavern chairs of which Dr. Johnson spoke as being "the throne of human felicity." [2] Often visitors from all parts of the world come and join the company and enjoy a well-cooked meal in the surroundings of the old days.
In The Amateur Gentleman, by Jeffrey Farnol, the George is named as the Inn where Barnabas put up on his arrival in London. ”

“ There we find merely a mention of the “George” as “one of the best inns in England”; but in his private correspondence he refers to that house, enthusiastically, as “the very best [Pg 268] inn I have ever put up at”: and Dickens, as we well know, was a finished connoisseur of inns.
The “George” at Grantham is typically Georgian: four-square, red-bricked and prim. It replaced a fine mediæval building, burnt down in 1780; but what it lacks in beauty it does, according to the testimony of innumerable travellers, make up for in comfort. ”

“ Jingle forfeited all claims to the lady's hand," and imagine, too, that the galleries could be accepted easily as those over which "the landlord shouted instructions to Sam in the Yard." But these flights of fancy could be indulged in even in the "New Inn," Gloucester, or any similar old coaching inn, if one so desired.
Mr. Percy FitzGerald, the greatest authority on The Pickwick Papers, is of the same opinion as ourselves on the point, and asks: "Why should notoriety be attached to the 'White Hart,' from which the 'George' was to be shielded?" ”

“ Yet another such club was "The Rolling Stones," composed of business men from the West End. It first selected the George Inn for its festive gatherings some twenty years ago, but prior to that they met at the famous Stone's Chop House in Panton St., Haymarket, hence no doubt their name. The full title of their Club was "The most Secret Brotherhood of the Rolling Stones" and their notice of the dinner was couched in a fanciful style in travesty of Brigandage. It is so amusing we give it in full ”

“ Our poet-apes, that do so much impute
Unto the grape's inspirement."
In the year 1670, "The George Inn" was, in great part, burnt and demolished by a violent fire which then happened in the Borough, and it was totally burnt down in the great fire of Southwark, in 1676, which I have mentioned in speaking of the "Tabard," and of which I promised to give a further account in the history of "The George." ”

“ They linger on in the hope that motorists may bring them a new popularity. Others, tired of empty [Pg 86] rooms and dwindling local trade have retired into private life. At Caxton, on the old North Road, the George, a very large inn of a lonely country village, is now a comfortable private residence, and the old gateway arch would hardly be recognized in the French window opening on the front garden.
Coach Gallery at the Bull, Long Melford
Gone are the old galleried yards. ”

“ I will, sir.'
And, with another uneasy glance, which was not returned, the under-master went his way. Descending towards Longmeadows, he thought over the innkeeper's story, which may be briefly related. Some ten years before this Mr. Fouracres occupied a very comfortable position; he was landlord of a flourishing inn—called an hotel—in a little town of some importance as an agricultural centre, and seemed perfectly content with the life and the society natural to a man so circumstanced. ”

“ Beyond the coffee-room is another small apartment where little parties of "Ramblers" so often resort for tea; and, like all the rooms in the Inn is provided with mahogany tables, chairs and sideboards. Indeed, mahogany old dark polished mahogany predominates everywhere one goes; in bedrooms, sitting rooms, passages.
The way up to the galleries and bedrooms is by a winding broad staircase, old and worn by the use of thousands of travellers. ”

“ Traditions still survive of how George the Fourth used to entertain his Windsor huntsmen here. In the rear was stabling for some two hundred horses. Most of it has been cleared away, but the old postboys’ cottages still remain in the spacious yard. The remaining part of the “Red Lion,” still carried on as an inn, presents a white-stuccoed, Early Victorian front to the high road.
THE “BELL,” BARNBY MOOR: MEET OF LORD GALWAY’S HOUNDS.
Not many inns are built upon crypts. ”

“ The only case in which Dickens deliberately used the name of one inn for another was that of the Maypole and King's Head at Chigwell in Barnaby Rudge. But in this instance he admitted that he had done so, although it was scarcely necessary, for the inns were very dissimilar and the novelist's description of the latter could not be taken for the former.
The case of the "George" and the "White Hart" is different. They both stood quite near to each other at the time Dickens was writing The Pickwick Papers, and were both so named and both famous. ”