Shakespeare Inn

It stood at the very bottom of High Street (long since known as Buckwell Street) at a time when High Street ran across Notte Street and down to the Parade, opposite what became Lenkiewicz’s studio. The building itself was still standing in the early 1950s but was bulldozed in the redevelopment of the Barbican – the site is now covered by the garden area in front of the flats that appeared here in the early sixties.

Quite why it was called the Shakespeare is unclear but it traded as such for some forty years, before serving, briefly as a base for Lyons Tea Merchants before becoming part of the Nash fruit and vegetable business just before the First World War. It remained with the Nash family until its demolition and today the site is overlooked by the House that Jack Built – the Jack in question being a member of the Nash family.

Licensees

1865 - James Collins
1877 - W Collins
1880 - J Folland
1885 - Mrs E Folland
1890 - James Boles
1895 - G Norris
1903 - J Kemp