Thursday May 23rd 2013
29-33 Knightrider Street, St Pauls, London, EC4V 5BH
The Life and Times of The Centre Page
Formerly known as
‘The Horn Tavern’
‘The Horn Coffee House’
‘The Bugell.
The earliest mention of the
‘The Horn’ in reference books dates back to 1660`s.
Where it was mentioned as a “roadside Inn” in as early as 1667, however Samuel Pepys wrote about the Horn Tavern in The Complete diary of Samuel Pepys, dated 13th April 1663
He wrote;
‘And so I called at the wardrobe on my way home, and there spoke at the Horn Tavern with Mr Moore a word or two’
The Horn Tavern or Coffee house was again mentioned as a place where the Freemasons or the “Free & Easy under the Rose” Society as it was known then held there lodge meetings, the earliest recorded meeting was dated 1754.
The most famous of all references
Would have to be from the late “Charles Dickens” The Horn Coffee House as was referred to by Dickens, was mentioned in Pickwick Papers;
When his friends Winkle, Snodgrass and Tupman visited Mr Pickwick in the fleet Prison, they ordered a “bottle or two of very good wine, for which a messenger was dispatched to the Horn coffee house.
In recent years
The Centre Page has been visited by a descendant of Charles Dickens, whom is part of the “Charles Dickens Society” In the 1800`s there are documents from “The Old Bailey” showing that the The Horn Tavern was a place of which a crime had been committed, the following trial records can be found online in full at The old bailey proceedings online;
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey t18090626-8
TRIAL SUMMARY;
Crime(s) theft; simple grand larceny Trials on 26th Jun 1809 Name search for MARY BATES
Crime Location: The horn tavern by st.pauls
Original text
The Horn was partially destroyed by the Great Fire of London, rebuilt then survived the Blitz. After a threat of demolition in 1967 a campaign was formed and the decision was upheld to keep one of the oldest surviving Alehouses of London. It is also said that “Guy Falkes” had many a meeting within the cellar walls of the then “Horn Coffee House”
The Hoff, JLC & Alan carr
With recent visits to The Centre Page from The Hoff, JLC and Alan Carr take a look at the other visitors to have been to this famous place.
Firefighter’s Parade
The firefighters parade is one of many annual events that take place in Londons Square Mile it is a little known sad and touching memorial service
Centre Page Staff
Centre page is a truly great place to work as you will find out by the happy smiling faces of our team; our people want to make your visit an experience you will remember !