The Hoop And Grapes, Aldgate is just about the last bit of Pre-Great Fire London left. Almost alone as a remnant of old London in a sea of ill-fitting and turgid post-war development that is modern day Aldgate, The Hoop and Grapes is one of London’s most remarkable pubs. These houses are all that is left of Butcher’s Row, a medieval row of buildings that was intact at the beginning of the twentieth century. Jack The Ripper would have walked along them. What a loss they were. They would have been an architectural jewel in London’s crown even now, particularly now! Sadly, like the row, the cockney spirit is no longer in evidence here. Only tourists with guide books were present on my visit. Still it knows its trade – the bar maid served a Bloody Mary guaranteed to cure the worst of hangovers. And it worked.
