please empty your brain below
Great post DG. I've enjoyed a few pints in the Prospect in the past.

Jonathan | 21.07.20 - 8:52 a.m. | #

Interesting as always. I don't think here a river bank can be privately owned. Maybe that only applies to large rivers or gazetted rivers. I know beach shorelines can't be privately owned.

Andrew | Homepage | 21.07.20 - 9:16 a.m. | #

Ratcliff Cross Stairs are a rare gap in Limehouse’s waterfront of flats, wharves and houses, all privately owned.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 21.07.20 - 9:25 a.m. | #

Great post, pls keep exploring the riverside. These places are part of my regular run (or what used to be my regular run) after work from CW to London Bridge via Thames Path.....may these days return. Thanks.

Hubert Berlye | 21.07.20 - 9:27 a.m. | #

It's a really interesting area to walk around, but a shame that due to its history there's so little river access to the public now

Mikey C | 21.07.20 - 10:25 a.m. | #

Used to walk this route every day for many years on my commute - walked from Tower Hill tube to Canary Wharf. Lovely walk to do every morning, now somewhat ruined by all the work going on in King Edward MP and the massive detour to get round it. I hope they put it back as they found it.

Johnny Topaz | 21.07.20 - 10:56 a.m. | #

Why are all the pubs round your way Greene King?

dg writes: They're not.

Probably sampling another one in the area tomorrow. I vaguely remember Ratcliffe Cross Stairs some years ago when I headed the wrong way off Tower Bridge and got totally lost in the Wapping area.

davews | 21.07.20 - 11:45 a.m. | #

I second more posts about the river! What an evocative and relaxing place to be.
Looks like the punters on the lower balcony at the Prospect might get wet feet during a spring tide though!

Cornish Cockney | 21.07.20 - 11:48 a.m. | #

‘The Old Guard’, a Netflix movie released on July 10 that is proving very popular, has a scene at the Prospect of Whitby. Given the historical nature of the movie perhaps today’s post would be of interest to some of the viewers. Maybe DG saw it and went to have a closer look. I wonder if the noose anachronism was added for “background” in the movie and hasn’t been subsequently removed?

dg writes: I did not. It was not.

Netflix Watcher | 21.07.20 - 12:20 p.m. | #

Ohh a trip to my patch. I wouldn't have seen you DG as I'm only able to venture out in the evenings. The breeze by the river was bliss before sunset. Also heard what I'm sure was a woodpecker in amongst the parakeets.

KEMP has been a saviour these last months, but people are treating it poorly as I've mentioned in previous comments. Last night some inconsiderate sods commandeered the bowling green enclosure in its entirety for Cath's birthday party, which 50+ people attended by my count. They even set up a barbecue station (smoking out half the park).

Maybe LBTH should just charge to hire that space out as a venue for socially distanced parties (and provide some portaloos).

E1W-er | 21.07.20 - 12:37 p.m. | #

"Greene King lorry parked on the cobbles outside".
So we will get a photo of that ?.
---Oh No we don't !.
DG needs to understand anyone interested in 'transport' does not
solely mean "buses", as he seems to.

twucka | 21.07.20 - 12:44 p.m. | #

I apologise for the photographic absence of 20 additional objects mentioned in today's post.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 21.07.20 - 12:49 p.m. | #

Nice post. I've enjoyed many a Wapping wander and visited The PoW and nearby ToR pubs. I've never been fortunate enough to set foot upon the sands though, murky river being the dominant view whenever I've stood atop Pelican Stairs.

Frank F | 21.07.20 - 12:50 p.m. | #

Pretty much every river bank in the UK is owned by someone. Most of the properties on the river edge along the Thames have 'riparian rights and responsibilities'. It sounds fun until you realise it can mean hugely expensive bills if the river wall needs repair and maintenance.

IslandDweller | 21.07.20 - 1:31 p.m. | #

Thanks for visiting, DG - I learned quite a few things about the area from your post today that I hadn't come across before (Execution Dock and the rope noose, the Rotherhithe ferry, the failed Shadwell Fish Market).

Oh and I also tried walking down the steps to the river around Wapping once too. Let's just say I did not time it right!

Sam | 21.07.20 - 5:01 p.m. | #

Not only can river banks be privately owned, but if you own the bank you own the river to the middle. On the tidal reaches though this doesn't apply and the whole lot of the tidal Thames is (or at least was) owned by the Port of London Authority. I think.

My husband's aunt used to manage the Prospect of Whitby. His mother was the youngest of seven daughters, and the oldest was widowed in the 1919 flu epidemic and inherited a lot of London pubs from her husband, including the Prospect and the Blue Post in Covent Garden, to name the two I can remember. She put her sisters in as managers - although my mother in law was too young to get one. He still has a couple of mahogany coal scuttles and pendulum clocks from the Rose of Kent (I forget where that one was).

Sarah | Homepage | 21.07.20 - 6:03 p.m. | #

Sycophanic message coming up... Thanks for your posts DG. For someone who is necessarily in complete lockdown and likely to be for some time (heart doesn't behave properly), your posts really do have added meaning.

TomH | 21.07.20 - 7:46 p.m. | #

One of my favourite cycling loops passes through this area but I have never stopped and descended the Ratcliffe Cross Stairs. Next time.

Almost opposite is Rotherhithe St and the Brunel Museum. I find it one of the most atmospheric places I know in London

Scientist | 21.07.20 - 9:13 p.m. | #

Reminds me of this admirably detailed article by the Guardian who set out to test just how much of this particular stretch of riverside is accessible. Many relatively new developments have been allowed to provide the most minimal and awkward 'public access' possible, generally in exchange for extra development rights, in stark contrast to the generally decent access along the rest of the Thames riverfront.

David | Homepage | 21.07.20 - 9:16 p.m. | #

Fascinating history. Surprised though that they are allowed to have a hangman's noose hanging there in these days of "health and safety".

Kevin | 22.07.20 - 3:05 p.m. | #

Sarah: possibly the pub named the "Rose of Kent" that was in Deptford.

Andrew | 22.07.20 - 3:18 p.m. | #

Yep Andrew, that's the one.

Sarah | Homepage | 22.07.20 - 4:33 p.m. | #

I've always imagined Bachy Soletanche as the glamorous spy teaming up with James Bond to defeat the machinations of her former lover and wouldbe world dominator Norbert Dentressangle, with his sinister henchman Geesink Norba. And Bond's cheery Cockney sidekick who dies a tragic but heroic ten minutes before the end - that would have to be Eddie Stobart.

Autolycus | Homepage | 23.07.20 - 10:32 a.m. | #











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