The George Inn
It may seem surprising to learn the National Trust owns 39 pubs in the UK, but it is perhaps slightly more surprising that out of all the historic boozers in London, only one of them is cared for by the charity. Then again, the George Inn is rather unique, being London’s only surviving galleried coaching inn.
An inn known as the “Gorge” was first recorded in Southwark on a map drawn up in ca. 1543; this would have been rebuilt in 1677 after a fire destroyed most of the medieval buildings in the area. At this time, the George would have been U-shaped, its galleries overlooking the courtyard where, potentially, plays may once have been performed, and Shakespeare may have taken refreshment. Two wings of the inn were lost when the Great Northern Railway demolished them whilst using the George as a depot.
Today, the south wing and the courtyard are still popular with local workers and tourists alike. The interior of the pub is a warren of interconnected rooms, with several bars spread across its three floors. The lower Parliament Bar used to be a waiting room for passengers on coaches; it is so named as it contains the remains of an Act of Parliament clock (a large clock said to have been popularised when a clock tax was in force). The Middle Bar was the Coffee Room, and known to have been frequented by Charles Dickens, who would write the George into Little Dorrit.
