The Blind Beggar

The Blind Beggar Review

Salvation Army founder William Booth preached his first sermon in 1865 outside the Blind Beggar, a dark den of iniquity during Victorian times but now a rather unremarkable neighborhood pub. The event is commemorated by an inscribed stone on the south side of the street and a statue of Booth near the pub. The Blind Beggar's main claim to fame, however, is considerably less high-minded: its saloon bar is notorious as the scene where Ronnie Kray—one of the gangster Kray twins, former kings of the East End's underworld—shot dead rival gang member George Cornell in March 1966. As well, beer lovers will appreciate that the first modern brown ale was created at the adjoining Albion Brewery, built by the pub's landlord in 1808. During World War II, the brewery's stables suffered a direct hit, killing many of the beloved shire horses who pulled the delivery wagons. The brewery was closed in 1979 and is now a supermarket.