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I recently had the pleasure of having my best friend a certain Mr Steve Parker​ ​being in London. Along, with myself he love's London history. Please check out his website https://www.mindnutrition4all.com 

     On his yearly visit I decided to take him over to Whitechapel to show him some interesting historical sights. The area is studded with traditional pubs, & breweries, that once were the mainstream of trade, & social industry in the areas illustrious past. 

      These include such places as Brick Lane, which has a magnitude of historical places, & events which appeal to Londoners & sightseers alike.  

  Along Brick Lane you will find the remnants of the original Trumans Brewery, which spans a large part of the area. This also includes some fine examples of pubs from the late 1890's, that would once have been part of the Trumans Brewery Estate.

The Truman​'s Brewery was founded back in 1666, known as the Black Eagle Brewery, the site was established in & around the area of Brick Lane. The rapid expansion of the site during the 18th century, was due to Benjamin Truman. The brewery was renowned for the production of Porter, being a well hopped, dark almost black in appearance, beverage due to the use of brown malts. Brick Lane has seen successive waves of immigrants settle in the area from as early as the 17th century. French Huguenots escaping religious persecution from France made the East End their home. They excelled in making Brick Lane a centre for weaving & tailoring. 

​  By the 19th century Irish & Jewish immigrants came to our shores. However, the Jews were not as welcome as the Huguenots. The sheer numbers arriving prompted the first Aliens Act (1905),which restricted immigration into the country. 

 Then towards the parts of the late 20th century Bangladeshi immigrants gradually became the predominant society in the area. Where Londoners & tourists travel from far & wide to enjoy the many Indian restaurants on offer.

 Truman's brewery flourished under Benjamin Truman an extremely flamboyant & shrewd businessman. Benjamin with the introduction helped turn a relatively small brewing operation into one of the largest producers of Porter in London, with Truman's becoming the drink of the Royal Family. 

                 
 Sadly when Benjamin died in 1780 he left no heir. Shares were handed out to his grandsons, with some being given to the head clerk James Grant, who took over the running of the brewery. When he passed away 8 years later, his shares were bought by a Mr Sampson Hanbury. Hanbury pushed the business to elevated heights. His vision was to encapsulate the industrial revolution, by purchasing the breweries first steam engine in 1805 which vastly helped increase production.   To help enable sales further, Hanbury had his nephew Thomas Fowell Buxton join the brewery in 1808. His task was to handle the ledgers, & help improve the breweries efficiency. Buxton was well educated, studying at Trinity College Dublin. Although, being a member of the Church of England, he often attended Friends (Quaker) meeting where he involved himself in the social reform movement.
​    Buxton helped to bring about better working conditions to Truman's employees, he was also determined to educate employees, schooling them to read & write.  In 1818 he was elected to Parliament as member for the constituency of Weymouth & Melcombe Regis. He endeavoured to work hard for changes to the conditions in prisons, criminal law & ultimately the abolition of slavery. 

Throughout the companies impressive history, they have been responsible for making some of the most audacious bells, ​to be found in some of the most iconic spires across the globe. Prime examples include Big Ben cast in 1858. The bell, not the original had to be transported from Whitechapel to Westminster on a trolley, that was drawn by 16 horses, with mass crowds cheering along the  route. It took a total of 18 hours, to be winched 200 feet to its place in the belfry. 

The Liberty Bell was founded in 1752, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the American Constitution. The bell however, on its journey across the Atlantic was damaged during a storm, the bell cracked when it was first rung. In need of constant repair, it cracked once again, when struck to commemorate George Washingtons birthday in 1846. 

    I have recently had the privilege of guiding at the Caledonian Clock Tower, which stands proudly in the centre of the once infamous Metropolitan Cattle Market, in Market Road not far from Kings Cross railway station. I was blown away, when I discovered the bell that was rung to open & close the market, was also founded at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.

 Following on from the September 11th attack on the Twin Towers in New York, the foundry cast a tribute bell. The Bell of Hope was given as a gift to the people of New York from the people of London. It is rung each year at 08:46 on the anniversary of the tragedy, when the first plane hit the first tower. 

 The foundry was also responsible for designing the Olympic Bell for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics. However due to the foundry furnaces being unable to provide the 23 tons of molten metal required to make the bell, the job was given to a factory in the Netherlands normally used to casting propellers for large ships. 

  The foundries last bell was cast in March 2017, & was given to the Museum of London. It seems the future of the bell foundry is unclear. It seemed at first, Tower Hamlets Council development committee, had given the go ahead for the site to be sold to a private company, to turn it into a boutique hotel. 

There are calls however for the Grade II listed site to restart the manufacture of bells. The Uk Historic Preservation Trust were unhappy with the decisions for the plans of a hotel & are seeking judicial revue to halt the original plans going ahead.

Whilst taking an avid interest in the historical traditional breweries of London, I jumped at the chance of going on a free brewery tour of Truman's. The guide told us many a story of Truman's heritage. The one that stuck in my mind, was a story of when the brewery was bought out by Grand Metropolitan. With the changing of the name to Truman, the General Manager, whose offices were directly opposite the view of the chimney, with at the time TRUMANS, painted in large white letters from top to bottom, decided that the S had to be scrubbed out.

 This was fine, but on the occasions when the weather decided to rain, with the brickwork getting wet, the S would reappear, much to the annoyance of the General Manager.

The Whitechapel Bell Foundry dates back to 1570. The premises you can see in the pictures on the right, supposedly dates back 1670, formerly being the coaching inn called ,"The Artichoke", which was damaged during the Great Fire of London in 1666.  

 When the Artichoke closed in 1738, the Whitechapel Bell Foundry moved to the site, remaining there until May 2017. Overall, the company had been in business for 450 years. The foundry was mainly responsible, for producing bells that were housed in Church steeples, but throughout recent times, as the need for large bells for churches diminished, the foundry mainly produced small handbells, & doorbells.

 During WWII, the foundry was commandeered by the War Department, to manufacture munitions, making metal casing for shells, & bullets. However, the foundry came into it's own after the war, especially replacing the bells, that were damaged or lost by fire during the blitz.

Nothing has gripped world wide attentions, as the mystery surrounding the Whitechapel murders, which took place between 3 April 1888, & 13 February 1891. All the recorded victims were prostitutes, & all except one were horribly mutilated. 

  If you look at the pictures below, these are a few of the pubs that the killers victims, were last seen alive, before their brutal murder.The first victim was that of Mary Anne Nicholls, which took place on 31st August 1888. The Frying Pan Public House, now an Indian restaurant, was where she enjoyed a few pints of beer, or glasses of gin. Here she spent the evening drinking, before succumbing to her horrible fate.  

Mary Kelly, the last victim of the serial killer, she spent her last evening at the Ten Bells Public house in Commercial Street. The pub was for some time known, as the Jack the Ripper pub. This was a major pull, attracting tourists who had perhaps enjoyed a Jack the Ripper walking tour. These I can thoroughly recommend, I have been on two walks, the first was on a cold, wet, windy evening in the winter, which helped to give me, an atmospheric sense, of how the area must have felt, during the period when the murders took place. 

  The Queens Head, was situated at No 74 Commercial Street, as you can see from the photo on the right, the building seems to be in extremely good condition. The reason for this, is due to the fact, that the current owners Chris Dyson Architects, decided to move their offices here. 

 It is to the owners credit, that they made the decision, to restore the buildings exterior, to the period when it was in its heyday of 1862. It had been part, of the Hoare & Co brewery estate, up to 1926 when it was passed over, to the brewery estate of Charringtons. 

You will therefore realise, that due to the date, & location of the pub, it has very strong connections with the Whitechapel murders. It is reported a Mr George Hutchison, had met Mary Kelly, walking along Commercial Street the evening of her murder. 

When they separated, he witnessed a well dressed man, who took Mary back to her house. Mr Hutchinson stated the mysterious looking man," looked at me stern".   

George Hutchinson witness account, was according to the police very detailed, there are a number of reasons, why this could be the case. Firstly, he may of been telling the truth, secondly his statement could of been exaggerated, to impress the papers, thirdly he may of just have been concerned for Marys safety, therefore he paid particular attention, to the other gentleman's attire, concluding that he probably wasn't from the Whitechapel area.

It was in the Blind Beggar Pub, on the evening of the 9th March 1966, that George Cornell, a member of the Richardson gang, who were rivals to the firm was shot dead at point blank range by Ronnie Kray.  

After learning of Cornell's whereabouts, whilst drinking in a pub nearby, Ronnie along with his driver, "Scotch Jack", John Dickinson & right hand man Ian Barrie went in search of Cornell. When arriving at the Blind Beggar Ronnie walked straight into the pub with Barrie. Ronnie Kray at point blank range shot Cornell in the head in view of the public. 

 Ronnie Kray who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, probably had no second thought about pulling the trigger, witnesses were reluctant to give evidence, or eye-witness account to the police, in fear of any reprisal that may come their way from the Krays. However, this moment of madness by Ronnie Kray would come back to haunt the brothers, a couple of years later, when the police had further evidence, & cause to send them to prison.

The pubs name, tells us of the story of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green, which comes from an old Tudor ballad, which tells us of the story of Henry de Montford, who historically was slain at the Battle of Evesham, along with his father Simon de Montford, who fought King Henry III technically becoming King of England, introducing parliamentary reform.

 The Tudor ballad romanticises Henry de Montford's fate during the Battle of Evesham of 1265, suggesting he was wounded, blinded, & left wandering the battlefield with no memory of who he was.

Nursed back to health by a wealthy baroness, they fell in love, & produced a beautiful baby daughter named Bess. It is claimed he begged for money to save as a dowry for her wedding. He became the Blind Beggar, found begging for money on the crossroad, with his loyal dog as companion.

  The pub also used to be the tap room of the Manns Albion Brewery, whose offices were only a stone throws away from the pub, with the main premises of the Albion brewery, being located on the opposite side of the road. 

   In 1865, William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army, preached his first open-air sermon, outside the Blind Beggar, partly fuelled by the Temperance movement, due to health & relationship problems, alcohol brought to the lower classes of society, living in the East End. 

Ronnie & Reggie Kray, were twin brothers who along with their firm of gangsters known as ,"The Firm",bred fear into the East End. They were notorious for building a criminal empire, that rocked the Fifties & Sixties.

​  They thought they were untouchable, even gaining celebrity status, by always seeming to be one step ahead of the police, especially in their involvement, during the controversy of the Lord Boothby, & politician Tom Driberg affair in 1964.

  The investigating officer Detective Superintendent Leonard "Nipper Read", was always a prominent thorn in their sides, eventually arresting the duo in May 1968, being convicted in 1969, both receiving life imprisonment. The pull of their West End nightclubs, attracted politicians & prominent celebrities alike. For The Krays organised crime was the order of the day this involved armed robbery, arson, protection rackets & assault.

Ronnie & Reggie Kray were born on 24 October 24 1933.​ They had a sister named Violet who sadly passed away in infancy.

The influence of their maternal grandfather, Jimmy"Cannonball" Lee inspired the boys to take up amateur boxing, with both of the boys sibling rivalry spurring them on with both of the twins gaining some success.