The Dewdrop Inn

(Picture Courtesy of Eddie Chard)
 

The Dewdrop Inn in Tower Hamlets Street is one of the few remaining of the many pubs that once catered for the population of the Tower Hamlets area.

According to Smith (1991), one Mary Monday was serving drinks here under the sign of the British Tar in 1847, before the street as it is today was built.

The surrounding houses were built around 1866 and the British Tar became number 27 Tower Hamlets Street.  In 1879, Smith records  John Russell serving at the British Tar, but the Dewdrop name had appeared by 1878.  It is possible that both were operating side by side, as there are records of 4 beer-houses in the area at the turn of the century.  The present house occupies nos. 27 and 28.

Brewers Phillips and Co. presented plans for rebuilding in 1902, and the Dewdrop was described as "recently rebuilt" in 1906.

These pictures show the house as it looked in 1983.

(Picture Courtesy of Eddie Chard)
 

In October 1987, when a hurricane struck the south of England, the building was seriously damaged,  with part of the frontage collapsing into the road.  It was repaired by the then owners, Fremlins Brewery, and is still operating today as a free house.

The front still retains many of the original features and leaded stained glass windows, although  a sign of the times is the CCTV system installed in the bar!

At the bottom of the street, on the same side, Smith records that another fully licensed house operated at number 1 Tower Hamlets Street in 1848 under the name Paul Pry.  The brewers were Ash and Co.

The name changed to the Coach and Horses sometime around 1866, when the Gann family were in residence.  The house apparently had a chequered career, and finally closed in 1913.