London 1982

Peter MARSHALL


The Railway Tavern, West India Dock Road, Limehouse, Tower Hamlets. 1982
30l-42: gate, pub. closed. Charlie Brown's,

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There are many 'Railway Taverns' but the most famous of them all was Charlie Brown's at 116 West India Dock Road, Poplar. A former boxer and briefly a sailor he took over as Landlord around 1897, continuing until he died June 1932. when his traditional East End funeral due huge crowds. His daughter and her husband continued as licencees. The pub was notable for its large collection of curiousities, which were not just as many thought brought back by sailors from around the world (though probably some of the more bizarre exhibits in the ground floor bars were) but bought from dealers and overseas agents, and included some very valuable items.
 
The pub became a major tourist attraction for visitors from around the world, in part because of a fascination at the time with Limehouse's 'Chinatown', partly due to the popular if racist invention of Sax Rohmer and others about opium dens, illicit sex and gambling.
 
The Railway Tavern was renamed 'Charlie Brown's' in 1972 and was I think still open when I took this picture, though I never went inside. The building wasn't in a style I much liked so I only photographed this doorway. It was demolished in 1989 when the whole area was reorganised with he Limehouse Link running below, the Docklands Light Railway above and the West India Dock Road widened.