The Blind Beggar, Whitechapel, E1

As pub histories go, they don't get much more varied and colourful than this place. Built in 1894 on the site of a much older inn, it was outside this pub that William Booth gave his first public sermon before going on to form the East London Christian Mission which later became known as the Salvation Army (a statue of Booth stands nearby as a reminder). A former landlord was responsible for the construction of the nearby Albion Brewery, with the pub acting as its brewery tap. Much later, the pub was briefly owned by England World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore, but it was a few months prior to Moore's heroics that saw the pub's most notorious act take place. On 9th March 1966, East End gangster Ronnie Kray shot and killed George Cornell in the saloon bar of this pub, in front of several witnesses - an act remembered by a few clippings and info boards inside the present day pub. The pub today has no doubt changed a great deal from those days. You enter into a bare boarded front seating area which had a huge Christmas tree dominating the space and some simple standard table and chair formations efficiently arranged. Brick fireplaces can be seen on both the left and right hand sides suggesting that this room was previously divided in two. An L shaped servery stands on the back wall and extends towards the rear as the pub runs further back down the left hand side. There is a good deal of extra seating back here, mostly in the form of pews and standard chairs, under the aforementioned Kray material and a 'Famous Grouse Famous 100' plaque which cites the pub for having one of the largest beer gardens in London. There is a huge mirror on the end wall and a TV screen showing a muted Premier League fixture above a third fireplace. An open kitchen at the end of the servery allows customers to marvel at the chef's burger flipping and hot dog turning skills, whilst an area behind has space for a pool table. Loud dance music played throughout my stay but it was not so loud as to impede conversation completely. There were three ales on the bar - Sharp's Doom Bar, Courage Best and something called Beggars Belief, which upon enquiry turned out to be a Greene King brew. I opted for a pint of the latter and thought it was a well kept, if rather uninspiring effort. The staff all seemed friendly enough, if perhaps a little unsure of what they were doing at times, and I had a quick bite to eat, which was nothing much to write home about. This is a pub that is worth visiting if you like trying to imagine all the famous faces and grisly events that preceded you, but nowadays it's just another run of the mill boozer trading on its past. It's worth a look in passing or as a double header with the neighbouring White Hart, but doesn't really merit a visit in its own right.