09/03/26 - On the Trail of..... The Krays

Reggie Kray.... Do you know my name?

I'm not a true crime fan. This walk was inspired by the excellent Iain Sinclair book "Lights out for the Territory". I was hoping this 11 chapter ode to psychogeography might provide some walking inspiration. In reality - it was only a recurring theme of the Krays in the East End and a pilgrimage to their graves in Chingford Cemetery that really even explained which part of London he was talking about. Do not let this put you off, it is an excellent book.

So, on a warm and sunny Monday afternoon, I find myself at Bethnal Green Station - timing it to perfection that I arrive at the most likely place for its advertised 3pm opening. I won't detail locations chronologically but will use a framework from a fellow (wannabe) London Gangster. Peter Coyne from the Godfathers. What I will say is you could throw a stone between most of the locations. They lived a small world.

Birth

178 Vallance Road is where the Kray family moved to in 1939. Then, it was a two storey terrace with an outdoor khazi. The site was redeveloped - probably in the 1970s - but the road name and house number still exist. I bet the family living there now get fed-up with middle aged men taking photos.

Site of "Fort Vallance"

School

I'm not taking photos of schools. It was playtime, and the kids are likely to shout insults the like of which 1970s Radio 1 DJs didn't live long enough to hear. Daniel Street School, Gosset Street and Wood Close School in Cheshire Street were both passed.

Work

The narrative I have read is that the Krays would commandeer a pub, install friends or family as landlords and use it as their HQ base to plan their nefarious activities. Of course, the pub was also where they committed their most famous nefarious activity.

The Lion had the windows shot out from by the Richardson Gang on the night that a man who looked like Reggie was run over in Vallance Road. It was also the place that Ronnie returned to after shooting George Cornell in the Blind Beggar.

It retains its pubby look - complete with a Truman's sign on the gable end - but has been converted into flats in 2002.

The Lion - retains golden lion decal above the 1st floor windows

The Carpenters Arms was bought by the twins in 1967. They were drinking here on the night that Jack "I won't use his nickname" McVitie was murdered.

As the picture indicates - a live pub - yet a 3pm opener

The Blind Beggar is the most iconic place associated with the Krays. The website, and indeed the opening hours in the window, shows it as 3pm Monday opener. By 3:10pm, the doors hadn't opened but I had seen four people of a similar age to myself having selfies outside.

Since 1894.... but not 3pm

Side On

I've been three times before. Visit 1 - they had wall-to-wall Krays memorabilia, including a huge photo of the boys in dinner jackets with our Babs. Visit 2 - The Krays stuff had gone but I did get to enjoy the lovely and unexpected beer garden. Its selling point today. Visit 3 was with my brother, who impressed the actor Vas Blackwood by saying "You're the Black Shadow". An early character in Only Fools and Horses for the actor who gained more fame through "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".

It would have made a fitting end to the walk but in some ways, I was saved from myself. It is a soulless pub, where Madri was nearly £7 three years ago.  The Mappiman wallet and taste buds could not take that.

Death

The undertakers that handled the Kray family funerals is near the world's busiest cafe, Pellicci's.

Incongruously placed amongst the Asian supermarkets and Italian Cafes

St Matthews church hosted the funerals of all three Kray Brothers - Ronnie 1st, then Charlie and finally Reggie. Ronnie went out to Whitney Houston's "I will always love you". Ronnie, "My Way". Can't tell you about Charlie. 

The burial plots are at Chingford Cemetery - along with the person they all loved the most. Violet.

St Matthews

Rebuilt in the 1960s after being decimated in WWII

Walk Details

Distance - 3.5 Miles

Geocaches - 7

09/03/26 - On the Trail of..... The Small World of Sammy Lee

Checking The Gentrification of Soho

It seems that it's impossible for me to simply watch TV without thinking - "I wonder what that location looks like now?". It takes me two hours to get through an episode of The Sweeney. And I haven't even started on Minder yet.

No surprise that the opening sequence of The Small World of Sammy Lee had me planning my annual trip to Soho. I need to make sure that Fuller's haven't ruined the Coach and Horses.

The film is pretty good.... Sammy Lee being what you would get if Bob Monkhouse worked in a strip club and lost all his money gambling.

The Small World of Sammy Lee (1963) is a British black-and-white crime drama directed by Ken Hughes and starring Anthony Newley, Julia Foster, and Robert Stephens.

The film follows Sammy Lee, a fast-talking compère at a Soho strip club who has run up a £300 gambling debt with a bookie. Given just five hours to repay the money, he rushes around Soho trying to borrow cash, call in favours, and make deals while still hosting the club’s stage shows.

This website does all the hard work of deconstructing the locations and making my days easier. Less time planning, more time walking.

Without going too mad.... the changes over 63 years....

The opening scene in Peter Street looking west

Once a striptease, now a restaurant at 50 Frith Street

At least the Indian remains at 44 Frith Street

And my favourite change - Books and Mags for Harry Bloody Potter at 157 Wardour Street

Whilst in the location - it's important for me to check on the Coach and Horses in Greek Street. Other pubs are available but none mean as much to me as this place. No need to repeat myself.

Fellow Casketeers waiting for the bolt slide

Fuller's took it over at the turn of the decade. The beer quality and range has improved (Kernal, no less) and the piano has (thankfully) been removed. Only so many times you can listen to Soho loveys belting out "Knees Up Mother Brown" ironically.

The view from the ghost of a piano

I was convinced the wooden bar backboard would be the first thing to be sacrificed in the name of progress. I'm reasonably sure I sent an email offering to buy it, if it was ever to be stripped out. Delighted that Skol, Ind Coope and Double Diamond have not been replaced with Pride, ESB and 1845. As much as I love them all.

Dread to think how long I have stared at this over the years

The final test - the gents. There was a time when you had to be very brave to even venture in. Now it is the inspiration for art. Even if the painter has caught it on a good day.  

Unsure I ever saw it so clean in the 1990s.

The hand dryer - no longer wall-mounted or working - suggests that gentrification has made only small inroads into my happy place.

09/03/26 - Following the River Westbourne

A Guide Book Complete

It's taken a long time. Since 2007 to be exact. 19 years to complete the final walk in Andrew Duncan's 50 Favourite London Walks. That's dedication for you.

Today's walk is one of London's Lost River Walks. The Westbourne rises from several streams in Hampstead, joining together into a river somewhere near Kilburn before debouching (Andrew is teaching me more than just London) at Chelsea Embankment.

Today, of course, it is completely covered. Although there are signs in the street names and evidence in the Long Water at Hyde Park. This was filled by the Westbourne and now is topped up from rainwater and another stream.

The walk takes me from the bustle of Paddington, through genteel Knightsbridge, before crossing the river to see what they have done to Battersea Power Station. I'll save you the effort - turned into a shopping mall with flats on top.

Servants quarters down Brook Mews (A river clue is in the name)

Italian Gardens at the top of the Long Water

Far end of the Long Water / Serpentine

The Westbourne delta forks at debouchment - this is Grosvenor's Canal Basin

Viewed from the Bridge

On the hunt for floating pigs

No pubs on this walk - I am heading to Soho to make sure my favourite hasn't been gentrified.

Walk Details 

Distance - 3.75 Miles

Geocaches - 4 

Walk Inspiration - Andrew Duncan's 50 Favourite London Walks

06/03/26 - The Mug House, Claines

Ghostly Goings on in the Good Beer Guide

I'll never get around to visiting every pub in a Good Beer Guide, but I can set myself a target of keeping my home county of Worcestershire "greened". 2026 saw five new entries.

The Mug House, Claines, becomes my latest quarry.

Now part of the Marston's chain

It probably comes as no surprise that this pub is detailed in two of my other books. Worcestershire's Historic Pubs and Haunted Pubs of Worcestershire. Let's deal with the stories.

Book 1 incorrectly claims it is the only pub on consecrated land in the UK. It is indeed housed within the Churchyard of St John the Baptist but book two says it is one of two, without providing details. AI confirms that the Ring O'Bells in Kendal is the other. With a name like that, it certainly sounds plausible.

Both books agree that during 1947 renovations, the silver head of a bishop's crozier was recovered, hidden in the walls. Handed to the Bishop of Worcester, it has been used in annual celebrations since.

Ghost tales? The usual hysterics in Haunted Pubs of strange noises, dogs that won't settle, and the tapping mallet going missing. Both books comment on a haunting by a ghost from the English Civil War - who goes to the front door, shouts "Beware!" and then heads to the church to play the organ.

No organ playing today, but it was "doors open".

The pub is as higgledy-piggledy as you would expect. The front room packed with solo men drinking. No photos from there, but it is the obvious place to see the wares and order. HPA and Butty Bach are a rather pedestrian offering for this part of the world.

A rear dining room offers fine views of the Malverns and a large mural painting by someone whose main career wasn't art.

The distant Malvern

How the pub looked in 1745

Finally, a smoke room/snug - where mugs hang from the rafters and a fox's head is nailed to the wall.

Butty Bach in fine condition

A perfectly good GBG recommendation and surprisingly easy access to public transport. Waiting for the 303 back to Kidderminster, every other car is flashes me as I look out for the bus.

The drivers of Worcester giving it to the man. Speed traps ahead.