The Jerusalem Tavern

The Jerusalem Tavern at 55 Britton Street in London operates as an 18th-century-style pub inside a 1720 Georgian townhouse, despite only opening as a bar in 1996. Designed initially as a coffee house in 1995, it became the fourth pub in Clerkenwell to bear the historic name, which originates from a 15th-century tavern linked to the 12th-century Priory of St John of Jerusalem.

London Β· from the walk β€œMonks, Martyrs & Revolutionaries” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

Jerusalem Tavern, 55 Britton Street, EC1M 5UQ

When did The Jerusalem Tavern on Britton Street in London open as a pub?

Take a good look at number fifty five Brit-ton Street. That beautiful shop front with its curved glass windows and Roman Doric columns... it Looks like it could be three hundred years old. And in a way, it is. But here's the delightful twist. This pub has only been serving beer since nineteen ninety six.......... So how did it get that timeless atmosphere?......... The building itself is genuinely Georgian, built around seventeen twenty as a merchant's townhouse. Over the centuries it served as a clockmaker's workshop, then an architect's office. In nineteen ninety five, a man named Julian Humphreys opened it as the Jerusalem Coffee House... a recreation of an eighteenth century coffee house. Those worn green-painted settles, the Delft tiles set into the walls, the dark oak floorboards... they all date from that clever nineteen nineties makeover. Then in ninety six, Saint Peter's Brewery from Suffolk took over and turned it into a pub.......... But the Name... the name has deep roots. This is actually the Fourth Jerusalem Tavern in Clerkenwell. The original, called the Saint John of Jerusalem Tavern, stood near Clerkenwell Green as far back as the fifteenth century, taking its name from the powerful Priory of the Knights Hospitallers of Saint John, whose headquarters dominated this entire area from the eleven forties until Henry the Eighth dissolved the monasteries.......... Now... the very street you're standing on hides another remarkable story. It was once called Red Lion Street, and it was renamed in nineteen thirty seven after a man called John Brit-ton. In seventeen eighty seven, at just sixteen years old, he was apprenticed as a cellar boy to a wine merchant at a Previous Jerusalem Tavern right here on this street. He spent five and a half miserable years working in damp cellars... but secretly, he bought cheap books from nearby stalls and read in every stolen moment. He eventually became one of England's most important antiquarians, writing nearly a hundred books on architecture and helping launch the movement to preserve Britain's ancient monuments.......... And there's one More ghostly connection to this spot. Just around the corner lived Thomas Brit-ton... no relation... a seventeenth century charcoal merchant known as the Musical Small Coal Man. In sixteen seventy eight, he converted the cramped loft above his coal store into a tiny concert hall. Audiences climbed an outside staircase to hear performances by some of the greatest musicians in London... even Han-del is said to have played there. But Thomas Brit-ton's story ends darkly. In seventeen fourteen, a magistrate named Robe hired a ventriloquist called Honeyman to throw his voice and command the superstitious old coalman to fall to his knees and pray... or face eternal damnation. Thomas did as he was told. He took to his bed and died within days. Frightened to death by a practical joke.......... So raise a glass of Saint Peter's ale if you step inside. You'll be drinking in a space where centuries of history, music, mischief, and mystery all swirl together... like sediment in a very old bottle.

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