Ye Old White Horse

About us

The history

EST: Circa 1800. Monarch: George III

Dickens’ London was a labyrinth of streets and cobbled alleys where thieves and thespians, lords and ladies, cads and costermongers all rubbed shoulders in an ever-changing kaleidoscope of noise and colour. London in those days also boasted markets galore – vibrant, throbbing places where you could barely hear yourself speak above the sound of stall-holders calling out their wares.

Clare Market was one such a place. Dickens himself described it in his 1879 Dictionary of London as “a collection of lanes where every shop is tenanted by a butcher or greengrocer and where the roadways are choked with costermongers’ carts”. On a Saturday evening, housewives would criss-cross between the gas-lit shops in search of a bargain for their families’ Sunday lunch. According to Dickens, many of these so-called “bargains” consisted of strange, dark-coloured lumps of meat that bore no resemblance to the chops, steaks or legs of mutton we would usually regard as the centrepiece of a meal. And as the wives haggled over these dinner-table monstrosities, their husbands would be happily ensconced in a nearby pub, drinking themselves to a point of stupidity (Dickens’ own words) and spending the difference between the cost of a misshapen lump of meat and a proper Sunday joint. A little pious there, Mr D – we all know how much YOU liked a drink.

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