Beer Lane (originally Bear Lane or Beare Lane) was a short street of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
from at least 1570 to 1910. It ran from almost the east end of
Great Tower Street
Great Tower Street, originally known just as Tower Street, is a street in the City of London, the historic nucleus and modern financial centre of London. It forms an eastern continuation of Eastcheap starting at Idol Lane, and leads towards Bywa ...
(latterly № 37), from opposite Seething Lane, to 53
Lower Thames Street
Thames Street, divided into Lower and Upper Thames Street, is a road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It forms part of the busy A3211 route (prior to being rebuilt as a major thoroughfare in the late 1960s, it ...
, opposite the east warehouse block of Custom House.
John Stow
John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...
(born 1525) wrote "At the east end of Tower Street, on the south side, have ye Beare Lane, wherein are many fair houses, and runneth down to Thames Street."
Opposite its lower end, on the
Tideway
The Tideway is a part of the River Thames in England which is subject to tides. This stretch of water is downstream from Teddington Lock. The Tideway comprises the upper Thames Estuary including the Pool of London.
Tidal activity
Depending on ...
's city bank, was Bear Quay, later Great Bear Quay and Little Bear Quay, principally used for the landing and shipment of corn.
[ Edward Hatton, in his ''A New View of London'' (1708) wrote "Here is a very great market for wheat and other sorts of grain, brought hither from the neighbouring counties".][Hatton, Edward. (1708) ''A New View of London''. John Nicholson. Volume II, p. 784. Quoted in Wheatley, 1891, p. 139.]
In the early twentieth century, the lane hosted the office-warehouse of H.C. König & Co. from where they distributed their Westphalian Gin.[Advertising in the ''Royal Colonial Institute Year Book 1914'']
Royal Colonial Institute
The Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS) is a non-governmental organisation with a mission to promote the value of the Commonwealth and the values upon which it is based. The Society upholds the values of the Commonwealth Charter, promoting confli ...
, London, 1914, p. v.
See also
*Beer Street and Gin Lane
''Beer Street'' and ''Gin Lane'' are two prints issued in 1751 by English artist William Hogarth in support of what would become the Gin Act. Designed to be viewed alongside each other, they depict the evils of the consumption of gin as a cont ...
(fictional)
References and footnotes
{{Coord, 51, 30, 33.08, N, 0, 4, 46.63, W, scale:1563_region:GB, display=title
Streets in the City of London
Former streets and roads of London