0:00:02 > 0:00:04Pubs have been at the heart of Britain for hundreds of years.
0:00:04 > 0:00:05Cheers, mukka.
0:00:05 > 0:00:09- In city taverns... - And village inns...
0:00:09 > 0:00:12Landlords have pulled pints for locals, travellers
0:00:12 > 0:00:14and, well, the odd king or two.
0:00:14 > 0:00:15Myself included.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18Try and have a drink now.
0:00:18 > 0:00:20THEY LAUGH
0:00:20 > 0:00:25But with 30 pubs closing every week, our historic taverns need defending.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27Step, step...
0:00:27 > 0:00:31We're heading out to discover amazing stories linked to the
0:00:31 > 0:00:32nation's watering holes.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34- Not far to go.- How far?
0:00:34 > 0:00:36- Oh, a couple of miles.- What?!
0:00:36 > 0:00:38'From the Wars of the Roses...'
0:00:38 > 0:00:40To shipbuilding on the Clyde...
0:00:40 > 0:00:44- We've ditched our bikes so that we can sample an ale or two.- Get in!
0:00:46 > 0:00:47This is very good.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49THEY LAUGH
0:00:49 > 0:00:50So join us for...
0:00:59 > 0:01:00London's Square Mile,
0:01:00 > 0:01:03for centuries, it's been the city's commercial heart.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08And for those grafting away in the Cheesegrater,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12the Gherkin, or any other skyscraper with a silly name,
0:01:12 > 0:01:14a drink after work in one of the city's pubs
0:01:14 > 0:01:16is a time-honoured tradition.
0:01:17 > 0:01:19- Gherkin.- Cheesegrater.
0:01:19 > 0:01:20Put the two together,
0:01:20 > 0:01:23and I reckon I could make a pretty respectable pub lunch.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I'm sure you could, but we're not here for the pub food, dude,
0:01:25 > 0:01:29we're here to find out about the stories behind the pubs.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32Here, did you hear the one about the baker, left his oven on
0:01:32 > 0:01:35- and burnt down half of London? - SIMON GASPS
0:01:37 > 0:01:42September 1666, London's city limits covered an area of just over
0:01:42 > 0:01:43half a square mile.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49Over half a million people lived in this cramped space,
0:01:49 > 0:01:51and all it took was one careless cook to
0:01:51 > 0:01:54ignite a catastrophic inferno.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58The Great Fire of London raged for four days,
0:01:58 > 0:02:02devastating many thousands of buildings and lives along with it.
0:02:04 > 0:02:09But a new city rose out of the ashes, and its pubs and taverns
0:02:09 > 0:02:11played a crucial role in London's recovery.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17We begin this tale on the banks of Old Father Thames.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20At a pub called The Anchor, which we do believe may give us
0:02:20 > 0:02:24- a slight peep into the past. - A Samuel Pepys into the past.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27I saw what you did there, like. That was good.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32There's been a pub called The Anchor on this
0:02:32 > 0:02:35corner of London's South Bank since the 17th century.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43It's where the great diarist Samuel Pepys took refuge as the fire
0:02:43 > 0:02:44ravaged the city.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50From inside, he watched the terrifying events as they unfolded.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56His diary entry, dated the first day of the fire, reads,
0:02:56 > 0:03:00"We went to a little ale house on the Bankside and stayed there
0:03:00 > 0:03:04"until it was almost dark and saw the fire grow,
0:03:04 > 0:03:07"a most horrid, malicious, bloody flame."
0:03:09 > 0:03:13City of London Guide Jenni Bowley has come to tell us more.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16- Hi, Jenni.- Hi.- Hi, I'm Si, nice to meet you.- Hello, lovely to meet you.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19- Hello, and I'm Dave. Nice to meet you.- Oh, really nice to meet you.
0:03:19 > 0:03:23So Pepys actually stood here, in this very spot, looking at what the
0:03:23 > 0:03:26carnage that was happening across the other side of the Thames.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28He did, he was watching the fire
0:03:28 > 0:03:31sweeping its way across London.
0:03:31 > 0:03:32At that time, there was only one
0:03:32 > 0:03:34bridge across the Thames,
0:03:34 > 0:03:36that was London Bridge.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38So we wouldn't have had this railway bridge here,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40Cannon Street, in the way.
0:03:40 > 0:03:43So you'd have seen the fire making its way across the city,
0:03:43 > 0:03:47right past St Paul's over there and further on up to Fleet Street.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49I think most people got the impression that the fire
0:03:49 > 0:03:53started in a baker's on Pudding Lane. Is it true?
0:03:53 > 0:03:54It is true.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59Yes, it started in the bakery of a chap called Thomas Farriner.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02He baked biscuits for the Navy,
0:04:02 > 0:04:04and so he's described as being the king's baker.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I've burnt the odd biscuit myself,
0:04:09 > 0:04:12but not with such devastating consequences.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Pepys lived to the east of the city
0:04:15 > 0:04:18and had assumed his own home was safe from the blaze.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22But as the fire spread in that direction,
0:04:22 > 0:04:26he grew increasingly concerned for his most treasured belongings.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29What did Pepys do?
0:04:29 > 0:04:32When he thought his own house was in danger, he got his valuable
0:04:32 > 0:04:37possessions, which was his wine and a big lump of Parmesan cheese...
0:04:37 > 0:04:40- He sounds like our type of man, doesn't he?- He does, yes!
0:04:40 > 0:04:41THEY LAUGH
0:04:41 > 0:04:45- Well, he buried them in the garden. - Did he?!- "So if my house is
0:04:45 > 0:04:50"consumed by fire, at least I'll still have my cheese and my wine."
0:04:50 > 0:04:53It's an amazing tale. How many people died, do you know?
0:04:53 > 0:04:58- Well, the official records are just single figures.- Right.- Really?
0:04:58 > 0:05:02Well, it took three days for the fire to sweep across,
0:05:02 > 0:05:05so the first people got out.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07The next people were hanging around thinking,
0:05:07 > 0:05:09"Is my house going to go or not?"
0:05:09 > 0:05:13It destroyed about two thirds of the City of London.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17It took 50 years to rebuild it after the Great Fire.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19You can just imagine, can't you?
0:05:19 > 0:05:23Pepys standing here, looking across at it and just going,
0:05:23 > 0:05:27- "Oh, it'll never last." - No. "Where's my cheese?"- Exactly.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29THEY LAUGH
0:05:29 > 0:05:31It just brings things to life, doesn't it?
0:05:31 > 0:05:34And I mean, the reality of people's characters and personalities.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38- And that's the importance of a diarist, isn't it?- Absolutely.
0:05:38 > 0:05:40Because it's snapshots of people's lives.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Well done, Pepys, because we wouldn't have a clue what went on.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45Do you know? It's first-hand documentation.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- And isn't it amazing that this is where he stood?- Yeah, having a pint.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51- What a start to our pub crawl. - Get in, I'll drink to that, mate.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54- ALL:- Samuel Pepys!- Cheers, Jenny.
0:05:56 > 0:06:00From his view over the Thames, Pepys also saw the city's folk
0:06:00 > 0:06:04fleeing the fire, loading their worldly belongings onto boats,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07with some of it being lost in the chaos.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13Today, a merry band of archaeologists
0:06:13 > 0:06:15known as the Mudlarkers
0:06:15 > 0:06:18spend their spare time scouring the banks of the Thames.
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Amongst their treasure haul are some of the very belongings
0:06:24 > 0:06:27that got swallowed up by the river during the Great Fire.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31They've come to The Anchor to give us a glimpse into the past.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37- So, Mudlarkers.- How are you doing? - Good to see you.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39- Hello, lads, all right? Good to see you.- Good to see you.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42- Nice to see you, boys. - Thanks very much for coming over.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44- Very nice to see you. - You're the Mudlarkers.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47But I can see there's more to it than just larking about in the mud.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're actually sifting through history.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53And if you look at the table today, amongst all of us,
0:06:53 > 0:06:55we've had some really serious finds.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58These parts of our history are in really good condition.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02- Why haven't they rotted?- Well, it's the actual mud of the Thames.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05It's anaerobic, which means there's no air in there, so
0:07:05 > 0:07:08whatever goes in there comes out looking exactly the same or,
0:07:08 > 0:07:11if it's brass or it's copper, it works like an electrolyte
0:07:11 > 0:07:14- down there and cleans it. It comes up looking like gold.- Really?- Wow.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16So hence why all this is in such good condition.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19If you found this in a field from this age, it would
0:07:19 > 0:07:21just be rotted through, you wouldn't find anything at all.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24And does much of this stuff relate back to the Great Fire of London?
0:07:24 > 0:07:27Yeah, a lot of it. For instance, this.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29So what this is, is a food scoop.
0:07:29 > 0:07:31There's an actual layer on the Thames that you can dig down to,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34if you're a Mudlarker, that is, and you're registered.
0:07:34 > 0:07:37And what happens is that there's a layer from the Great Fire of London.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39This actually comes out of there.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41And as you can see, it's made of lead, but it's burnt.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45It's some kind of food scoop, but you can see where it's melted.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47- That is incredible, isn't it? - That's amazing.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49It's going back to 1666.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51I know.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Artefacts like these have helped scientists calculate that the
0:07:54 > 0:07:58blaze reached temperatures of 1,700 degrees Celsius.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04After the Great Fire, was all the detritus and rubbish,
0:08:04 > 0:08:06was that just swept into the Thames?
0:08:06 > 0:08:07It was an easy way to get rid of it.
0:08:07 > 0:08:10You just shoved it in there and the tide hopefully took it away.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13It was just the nearest river you could put it into.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15- There was no rubbish collection day. - No, exactly.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17You just sling it in the river.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Some of the salvaged goods even tell us
0:08:19 > 0:08:23what happened down the 17th-century boozer.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Many taverns produced their own tokens which could be used
0:08:28 > 0:08:29instead of cash.
0:08:29 > 0:08:31It was a bit of a canny manoeuvre.
0:08:32 > 0:08:37It was at a time when the mint couldn't produce enough coinage,
0:08:37 > 0:08:39so let's say the lowest coin was a penny
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and you're a landlord and you're selling a beer for half a penny.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45You haven't got any halfpenny coins as change,
0:08:45 > 0:08:47so you'd have to make your own. So this is what these are.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50Encouraged you to come back and spend it at the same place as well.
0:08:50 > 0:08:51- Exactly.- Of course.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53And we get so much information from these -
0:08:53 > 0:08:57it gives you the owner's name, his wife's initials,
0:08:57 > 0:08:59the address where the business was
0:08:59 > 0:09:01and sometimes they're dated as well.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04One of these pub tokens shines some light on the infamous
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire began.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11Well, that's the one from Pudding Lane,
0:09:11 > 0:09:14interestingly spelt P-U-D-I-N.
0:09:14 > 0:09:17I think it's a misconception that everybody calls it Pudding Lane
0:09:17 > 0:09:18because of the bakers.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22It wasn't. P-U-D-I-N is the medieval term for offal.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Because at the top of Pudding Lane was slaughter houses,
0:09:25 > 0:09:28all that offal would have been brought down through this street,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30hence it got the name, essentially, Offal Street
0:09:30 > 0:09:33but the name was termed Pudin Lane, P-U-D-I-N.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36And the spelling on this token is P-U-D-I-N.
0:09:36 > 0:09:39So this dates back to 1666.
0:09:39 > 0:09:40That's 1657, that one.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45- So that was slightly earlier than the Great Fire.- That is amazing.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49- It's in such good condition as well. - Again, again the mud.- Cheers.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52I'll drink to that. Cheers, boys. Absolutely fascinating.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54- You're welcome.- Fascinating, lads. - Good seeing you.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Living history, perfect.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59Who'd have thought it, Kingie?
0:09:59 > 0:10:04All that buried treasure giving us a peek into the pubs of the past.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Here's a bit of trivia for you, Si.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09If you walked into a boozer in 1666 and asked for a wig,
0:10:09 > 0:10:11what would you get?
0:10:11 > 0:10:13Well, you'd get one of those, you know, furry things that you
0:10:13 > 0:10:16stick on your head that Charles the...used to wear.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19Oh, no, no, no, no. It is, in fact, a tasty bar snack.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21It's like a yeasty roll that's served with cheese and ale.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24It's a bit like the original ploughman's, if you like.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27I do like. And in fact, the very thought of it, Mr Myers,
0:10:27 > 0:10:28makes me feel slightly peckish.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34That's not the only bit of pub trivia up our sleeves.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Pub signs are full of fascinating facts too.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43In London, you're spoilt for choice. But here's three of our faves.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47The Hoop & Grapes miraculously survived the Great Fire
0:10:47 > 0:10:51and is the only timber-framed 17th-century pub in the city.
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Its name comes from old slang.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58Hoops, or hops, was the beer. And grapes, a new batch of wine.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02Knock yourself out at the Punch Tavern on Fleet Street.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05It gets its name from its old clientele.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09That's the staff from the 19th century satirical magazine,
0:11:09 > 0:11:10not the local boxing club.
0:11:13 > 0:11:17And the Crutched Friar pays homage to some Italian monks who
0:11:17 > 0:11:20settled in London in 1249.
0:11:21 > 0:11:25Well, no. The crutch wasn't a means to get them home from the pub.
0:11:25 > 0:11:27Crutched is actually the Latin term for cross.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36Back on our Great Fire of London pub tour, as the blaze rapidly spread,
0:11:36 > 0:11:38the city's infrastructure collapsed.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43It was every man, woman and child for themselves.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46You know, mate, it's astonishing to think, isn't it, that
0:11:46 > 0:11:48London Bridge was the only bridge across the Thames at the time.
0:11:48 > 0:11:50It must have been pandemonium on there.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52I wouldn't have fancied my chances,
0:11:52 > 0:11:53not with the whole of London behind me.
0:11:53 > 0:11:56No, me neither, actually. Tell you what I do fancy, though,
0:11:56 > 0:12:00I do fancy a trip on the river. So I'm going to see a man about a boat.
0:12:00 > 0:12:02- No problem. And I've got a date with disaster.- Oh!
0:12:07 > 0:12:10The Great Fire destroyed almost all the buildings
0:12:10 > 0:12:11within the old city limits.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17But some areas, like Smithfield to the north, narrowly escaped
0:12:17 > 0:12:21major damage and a few of the old buildings here still survive.
0:12:27 > 0:12:29Professor Elizabeth McKellar
0:12:29 > 0:12:31is an architectural historian,
0:12:31 > 0:12:34and she's going to reveal why the fire spread so quickly.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38So London was once full of houses like these -
0:12:38 > 0:12:44they're from the early to mid-17th century. And by this stage, they
0:12:44 > 0:12:46were using brick, as you can see,
0:12:46 > 0:12:48but there's also quite a lot of wood.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51You can see the wood panelling up the top storey there.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54- It's quite tall as well.- Very tall. - Taller than I imagined.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57Because the streets were so narrow, they had to build tall
0:12:57 > 0:12:59and they had to go up. And they had these jettied
0:12:59 > 0:13:03- windows coming out to make use of the narrow streets.- Got you, yeah.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And in older buildings, they would jetty them right out
0:13:06 > 0:13:09across the street, so you could almost, you know, shake hands
0:13:09 > 0:13:12- with your neighbour on the top floor.- That must have formed like
0:13:12 > 0:13:14a natural flue for the wind to spread the fire.
0:13:14 > 0:13:17Absolutely, absolutely.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19The construction of the buildings and the fact they were
0:13:19 > 0:13:23so tightly squeezed together meant that once the fire took hold,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25there was no stopping it.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Did they have a fire brigade in those days,
0:13:29 > 0:13:30or how did they fight the fire?
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Well, they did have a sort of fire brigade, an amateur one,
0:13:34 > 0:13:38and they had the first early fire engines around this time.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Because fires were quite frequent, when it started,
0:13:42 > 0:13:44they called the mayor, he came and had a look
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and said he didn't think it was very serious,
0:13:46 > 0:13:49they didn't need to pull down any houses,
0:13:49 > 0:13:50and they all went back to bed.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55Unfortunately, then the main fire engine got destroyed in the fire,
0:13:55 > 0:13:57so they didn't have much water.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59- It had been an incredibly hot summer...- Yes.
0:13:59 > 0:14:01- ..so everything was tinder dry... - Yes.
0:14:01 > 0:14:04..and there was a very, very strong wind blowing,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06which fanned the flames eastwards.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11The fire was eventually brought under control
0:14:11 > 0:14:14when they started pulling down large areas of housing
0:14:14 > 0:14:17to create firebreaks. But by then,
0:14:17 > 0:14:19the damage was catastrophic.
0:14:24 > 0:14:28Tens of thousands of people fleeing the devastating fire headed
0:14:28 > 0:14:29straight for the river.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35In the 17th century, the Thames was teeming with boats
0:14:35 > 0:14:38crewed either by watermen who ferried passengers
0:14:38 > 0:14:41or lightermen who transported goods.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47I've come to meet Chris Livett, a fifth generation waterman.
0:14:47 > 0:14:49- You must be Chris.- Hi. Yes. - Hi, gent, how are you?
0:14:49 > 0:14:51- How are you doing? Good to meet you. - Nice to meet you.
0:14:51 > 0:14:53He's taking me on a trip to find out more.
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Chris, thank you so much for the invitation to take this
0:15:04 > 0:15:07wonderful trip up the river, thank you.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Your family have been working on the river for about 300 years.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13- Absolutely.- But they wouldn't have been working it
0:15:13 > 0:15:16with boats like this, would they? What would it have been in the day?
0:15:16 > 0:15:19Well, this is the height of luxury, isn't it?
0:15:19 > 0:15:22The hard modern, two engines, power steering.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25Early days, my first generation - I'm a fifth generation waterman -
0:15:25 > 0:15:28they'd have been in rowboats. They'd have been in wherries and in skiffs.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30When the Great Fire of London happened,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34we've heard Pepys is having a pint in a pub
0:15:34 > 0:15:39and he watches this "malicious flame" engulfing the city.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41What would people have done?
0:15:41 > 0:15:43Would they have come onto the river for sanctuary or...?
0:15:43 > 0:15:47It was the natural way to evacuate, bearing in mind there was a lot of
0:15:47 > 0:15:49exposed foreshore at certain states of the tide.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52So they would have used that to clamber down, but they would
0:15:52 > 0:15:56have been clambering down in the mud, in the sand, in the water.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58People were spewing out onto the river.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02There would have been danger, hazards, losing furniture,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04losing their goods, overboard from boats.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06Boats would have been laden deep.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09It would have been a mass evacuation.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11At that time, what would this be like?
0:16:11 > 0:16:13What would the river be like then?
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Amazing, absolute contrast of what we see today.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17It would have been a lot wider.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21We're coming up to London Bridge here. And London Bridge of the old
0:16:21 > 0:16:24had many, many, many arches. It used to block the river.
0:16:24 > 0:16:29It acted as a weir, so the upper side of the bridge was very quiet,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32very still. There wasn't a huge amount of tide running.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35The lower side was treacherous. It would have been heavily congested.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38It would have been more like the M25 is today on a bad day.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40It was the centrepiece of London.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42Without the river, London wouldn't exist.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44It was the major highway through London.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46So you wouldn't walk ashore, you wouldn't walk up a road.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49There were no highways. This river was the main artery
0:16:49 > 0:16:51leading out and had so much activity.
0:16:51 > 0:16:57I think people forget that the scale of the Thames is enormous, isn't it?
0:16:57 > 0:17:00It's amazing. You know, we have two tides every 24 hours.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04The tide comes up seven metres, 7.2 metres twice a day.
0:17:04 > 0:17:07Think of that volume of water. We're in a narrow channel.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09It's running at four or five knots as we sit here today.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12If you fell overboard now and you tried to swim over to Southwark,
0:17:12 > 0:17:14you'd end up in London Bridge.
0:17:14 > 0:17:15Well, I haven't brought my trunks,
0:17:15 > 0:17:18so I certainly won't be giving that a go.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25And I'm more than happy to be on dry land on my tour of Smithfield.
0:17:27 > 0:17:30When the embers of the Great Fire finally died down,
0:17:30 > 0:17:3513,200 houses, 87 parish churches, and most famously,
0:17:35 > 0:17:38St Paul's Cathedral had been destroyed.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45But the fire obviously did stop, so what was it like then?
0:17:45 > 0:17:51Well, after the fire, they started building, really, very quickly.
0:17:51 > 0:17:53And they introduced new legislation.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56- The main thing was that houses had to be brick.- Right.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58No more wooden houses.
0:17:58 > 0:18:02We've got an example of post-fire brick houses here,
0:18:02 > 0:18:06not just the exterior, also the interior party walls,
0:18:06 > 0:18:09because one problem, the fire, had been in the old timber houses.
0:18:09 > 0:18:11They were lath and plaster walls,
0:18:11 > 0:18:13you know, and that spread the fire very rapidly.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16And it still feels quite closed in here, though.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Well, although the architecture was new, the layout was the same...
0:18:20 > 0:18:24- Right.- ..as the pre-fire city, so it was essentially built on the same
0:18:24 > 0:18:27medieval street pattern with these new brick houses.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31Christopher Wren, a rising star,
0:18:31 > 0:18:35was called in by King Charles II to oversee the rebuilding of London.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38St Paul's was his biggest challenge.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Wren was just at the start of his career.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43He'd only designed a few buildings.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46He was actually better known at this stage as an astronomer
0:18:46 > 0:18:50and mathematician. But he was interested in architecture, he had
0:18:50 > 0:18:54the ear of the king and he became head of the rebuilding commission.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00The rebuilding of London took almost half a century
0:19:00 > 0:19:04with work on St Paul's lasting an incredible 45 years alone.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10But on the fringes of the fire, some buildings did survive
0:19:10 > 0:19:12with only a few scorch marks.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14The Seven Stars Tavern was one of them,
0:19:14 > 0:19:17much to the relief of its regulars.
0:19:18 > 0:19:22People would be camping out in the fields, so after the fire,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25- you know, nearly everybody was homeless.- Right.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27So they made temporary encampments in the fields.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31- And they went on for, you know, a good year.- Right.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33And so this area would have been
0:19:33 > 0:19:35full of homeless people, essentially.
0:19:35 > 0:19:38- And of course they must have got thirsty.- Indeed.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41- It's a good job that The Seven Stars was still here.- Absolutely.
0:19:41 > 0:19:44- We can thank our lucky stars. Shall we?- Yes, let's.
0:19:47 > 0:19:49Now, I know, Kingie, that you'd approve of this one.
0:19:51 > 0:19:52I certainly do, mukka.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56But no matter how historic the pub is,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00it won't survive without its passionate punters.
0:20:00 > 0:20:03So let's meet a local who loves his local.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12The George Inn is one of the few pubs in London that looks
0:20:12 > 0:20:15pretty much as it would have done in the 17th century.
0:20:17 > 0:20:20It survived the Great Fire by being outside the old city limits
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and south of the river in what's now known as Southwark.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30Author Pete Brown loves it so much,
0:20:30 > 0:20:33he spent a year in here writing a book about the place.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39The George Inn is one of my favourite pubs in London
0:20:39 > 0:20:41because it's so well preserved.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46It goes back, in some shape or form, back to Chaucer's time.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50And you get this sense of what pubs are like for us now
0:20:50 > 0:20:53and this idea that they've been like that for centuries
0:20:53 > 0:20:56and for countless thousands of people back through the ages.
0:20:58 > 0:20:59Steeped in history,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02the pub has been immortalised by a great literary figure.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07Charles Dickens writes about The George in Little Dorrit.
0:21:08 > 0:21:11He first wrote about the pubs in Southwark, where we are now,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15when it was all coaching inns and people getting in stagecoaches.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18By the end of Dickens' life, London Bridge station was open, these big
0:21:18 > 0:21:21trains were coming in and the coaching inns were out of business.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22And a few years after that,
0:21:22 > 0:21:27people came here as a sort of last reminder of this
0:21:27 > 0:21:31kind of beautiful golden Dickensian age. And people came to this pub
0:21:31 > 0:21:33because they almost felt that, well, Dickens did drink here
0:21:33 > 0:21:35and they felt that they could touch him.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38They almost felt they could stay in touch with him.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42I think my favourite space in the whole pub is the gallery
0:21:42 > 0:21:45just above us. It's just really atmospheric.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48You see people come into the yard outside and gasp
0:21:48 > 0:21:51when they look up at this beautiful facade of the pub.
0:21:51 > 0:21:54And when you're actually up there on the gallery, you feel special
0:21:54 > 0:21:55to be standing there.
0:21:55 > 0:21:59For Pete, it's not just the building itself that's special,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04it's the character, soul and history that goes along with it.
0:22:04 > 0:22:06As someone who spends a lot of my life in pubs,
0:22:06 > 0:22:10what that really revealed to me was that the way we use pubs now
0:22:10 > 0:22:13and how we behave in pubs has been unchanged in this place.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It's where you can see that continuity of the banter that
0:22:17 > 0:22:20happens in pubs, the conversations, the silliness that
0:22:20 > 0:22:23happens in pubs. And it's always happened.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27And it's always been welcoming to everybody. And that makes me
0:22:27 > 0:22:30just feel connected to, you know, a timeline
0:22:30 > 0:22:33in a way that I didn't expect.
0:22:39 > 0:22:44St Paul's Cathedral was the highest profile casualty of the Great Fire.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46And its redesign was to become
0:22:46 > 0:22:49Christopher Wren's most iconic achievement.
0:22:52 > 0:22:54But during the rebuilding process,
0:22:54 > 0:22:57there was a team of thirsty workmen to keep happy.
0:23:00 > 0:23:02Did you know, Kingie, that pubs were some of the first
0:23:02 > 0:23:05buildings to be rebuilt after the fire?
0:23:05 > 0:23:08Well, they were just like the greasy spoons that we have today,
0:23:08 > 0:23:10weren't they? They had to feed and water the workers.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14And this pub here, Ye Olde Watling, it was where some of the men
0:23:14 > 0:23:15who built St Paul's Cathedral used to come.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Do you know what, Dave?
0:23:17 > 0:23:20I think that deserves a little bit more investigation, don't you?
0:23:20 > 0:23:22Excellent.
0:23:24 > 0:23:29Ye Olde Watling is named after the Roman road on which it stands.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32In 1668, two years after the fire,
0:23:32 > 0:23:37the pub was supposedly rebuilt using ships' timbers.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39The pub served the workers rebuilding St Paul's and
0:23:39 > 0:23:44it's said that Christopher Wren even used the upstairs as a drawing-room.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49- Hello, Jacqueline.- Hello, guys. How are you doing?
0:23:49 > 0:23:53Two glasses of your finest libation, please.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Jackie the barmaid's been pulling pints here for ten years.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59It's really fascinating because we're looking at the
0:23:59 > 0:24:02Great Fire of London and how it affected, and what role
0:24:02 > 0:24:05pubs played within that, and it's fascinating.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08And then, the rebuilding of, obviously, St Paul's
0:24:08 > 0:24:11and your pub features quite heavily in that.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13When Sir Christopher Wren was doing St Paul's,
0:24:13 > 0:24:18- he had about 17 other projects going on at the same time.- Right.
0:24:18 > 0:24:19So he was quite a busy man.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21We were at Samuel Pepys' pub over the river having a jug,
0:24:21 > 0:24:24- Christopher Wren was in here, they're not daft.- Drawing.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27- Drawing.- Drawing.- Yeah. Cheers.- Cheers.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29- Cheers, thanks.- To good health. - Cheers, mate.
0:24:29 > 0:24:30Good health.
0:24:32 > 0:24:34I'm sure Wren was far too professional
0:24:34 > 0:24:36to be drinking on the job,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38but it was actually common practice for surveyors to
0:24:38 > 0:24:40take a room at the local tavern.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44- Hi, Angela, Dave.- Hey.
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Historian of drinking Dr Angela McShane
0:24:48 > 0:24:51knows a thing or two about 17th-century pubs.
0:24:51 > 0:24:53Now, listen, this looks like a traditional,
0:24:53 > 0:24:55- old-fashioned sort of pub. - It certainly does.
0:24:55 > 0:24:58So, is this like kind of what it would have looked like
0:24:58 > 0:25:02if I'd come in from a hard day's graft from St Paul's?
0:25:02 > 0:25:05- Would it kind of have looked similar to this?- Not really.
0:25:05 > 0:25:07There'd be some pretty big changes.
0:25:07 > 0:25:11For a start, none of this is here. So there's no pub bar.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13The bar doesn't get invented until the 19th century.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15So there's no bar, so how did you get a drink?
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Right, so what you're going to do is you're going to come in...
0:25:18 > 0:25:21So if you imagine you come in through this door and you imagine me
0:25:21 > 0:25:23as the landlady... So I'm here watching you,
0:25:23 > 0:25:25clocking you coming in. I'm making sure you pay before you go out.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27And then what you're going to do is
0:25:27 > 0:25:28you're going to shout for your drink.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30So you're going to call the drawer
0:25:30 > 0:25:33and say what it is you want, or you might ask him what they've got.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36And then he's going to have to go down all the really steep
0:25:36 > 0:25:38stairs at the back there to pull things off the barrels
0:25:38 > 0:25:40and fetch them up for you.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42I mean, people drank probably about seven pints a day,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45- but they started with breakfast. - Really?
0:25:45 > 0:25:47But of course, you didn't drink it all at once.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50You didn't come in and drink seven pints and then go up your scaffold.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Cor, blimey, seven pints of neckwrestler
0:25:52 > 0:25:54and you're up the scaffolding on St Paul's!
0:25:54 > 0:25:56Where's Health and Safety in that?
0:25:56 > 0:25:59People drank beer because the water wasn't safe to drink, was it?
0:25:59 > 0:26:02Well, beer is good for you. Beer has got nutrition in it.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04In fact, there's legislation to
0:26:04 > 0:26:08make sure that everybody can afford a pint of beer.
0:26:08 > 0:26:11That's why it only costs a penny for a pint of small beer,
0:26:11 > 0:26:12or a quart, actually, of small beer.
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Pubs like Ye Olde Watling were instrumental in
0:26:18 > 0:26:21the rebuilding of London.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25They were the hub for all sorts of business transactions.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I mean, originally, there was a workplace upstairs.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31You're going to be paying your workers, meeting with them,
0:26:31 > 0:26:34doing all sorts of business with all the kind of people who've got
0:26:34 > 0:26:37to bring in the different materials. So that will
0:26:37 > 0:26:40definitely have happened here, and that will have been very important.
0:26:40 > 0:26:42So, what...? It's the chicken and the egg, Dave.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47What came first, the pub to support the workforce for St Paul's
0:26:47 > 0:26:50or the workforce from St Paul's to support the pub?
0:26:50 > 0:26:52Almost certainly the pub, actually,
0:26:52 > 0:26:54because... And in fact, you see that happening in other
0:26:54 > 0:26:58parts of London as well, where a builder will put a pub up,
0:26:58 > 0:27:00and then from there, will be the headquarters where
0:27:00 > 0:27:04- they'll actually build the rest of the street.- Wow!
0:27:04 > 0:27:07So that's not unknown elsewhere in London.
0:27:07 > 0:27:10So from where we're standing here, what was being built all around us?
0:27:10 > 0:27:13Well, you mentioned St Paul's earlier,
0:27:13 > 0:27:15but actually Christopher Wren was involved with two other
0:27:15 > 0:27:19major church building projects just on either end of these streets,
0:27:19 > 0:27:21so he was very busy.
0:27:21 > 0:27:24There's a huge number of builders lurking around this area,
0:27:24 > 0:27:27- all needing a beer.- And the pub was at the heart of that.- Yes.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31One of the nicest things about pubs is, be it that you're a writer,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34a builder or a bishop, there is a hostelry for you, isn't there?
0:27:34 > 0:27:37- There is. Angela it's been a great pleasure.- Good to meet you.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40- Thank you very much.- Cheers. - Thanks for the info.
0:27:40 > 0:27:42- Fascinating, isn't it?- Yeah, yeah.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Almost 350 years on, Ye Olde Watling is still serving
0:27:46 > 0:27:51London's workers, although it's more of a suit-and-tie affair these days.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54Since then, though, things really haven't changed,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58and a pint is still rich reward for a good day's work.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03Well, that warms the cockles, mate.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07Oh, aye, and it's a fitting end to our historical pub crawl.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Hey, listen, bit of trivia for you.
0:28:10 > 0:28:14Which famous naval figure was preserved in brandy after
0:28:14 > 0:28:16he was killed in battle?
0:28:18 > 0:28:21I don't know, but it's certainly one way to get pickled, isn't it?
0:28:21 > 0:28:23- Um, Sir Francis Drake.- No, no.
0:28:23 > 0:28:25Believe it or not, it was Horatio Nelson.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28- Mm.- Cheers, mukka.- Cheers.