A hidden pub tucked into the very fabric of Tower Bridge, down a secret staircase, named for the year the great bridge opened in 1894
The Vault 1894 carries a 4.2 across nearly fifteen hundred reviews and occupies one of the most extraordinary locations of any pub in this entire survey: it is tucked inside the very fabric of Tower Bridge, down a hidden staircase, in a vault of the great bridge itself. The Prat’s history desk could scarcely believe its luck.
Beneath Tower Bridge, Shad Thames
The Vault 1894 sits in Shad Thames, right beside – and partly within – Tower Bridge, reached down a discreet staircase by the bridge’s southern end. Proper Bermondsey riverside, no disclaimer needed, and about as atmospheric a spot as London offers.
The year in the name
The “1894” is exact and meaningful: it is the year Tower Bridge was completed and opened, on the 30th of June 1894, after eight years of construction. The bridge – designed by the architect Horace Jones, its Victorian Gothic towers and great bascules now one of the most recognisable structures on earth – gave the pub both its home and its name. The Vault occupies the Horace Jones Vault, a space within the bridge’s own structure, and dates its identity precisely to the moment the bridge was born. Few pubs can claim to be named for, and housed within, one of the most famous landmarks in the world.
Mind your head
The Prat’s favourite detail is a delightfully practical one. Being built into a Victorian vault, the pub has famously low ceilings – in places barely five feet, a height that suited the shorter Victorians rather better than the modern drinker. The pub cheerfully warns of this with a small forest of “mind your head” signs around its brick arches, and treats the ducking and stooping as part of the charm. It is a genuine piece of the 1894 structure, unmodernised, low-beamed and atmospheric, with the exposed brick arches of the bridge’s own vaulting overhead.
The hidden gem
What the Prat likes best is the secrecy of it. The Vault is reached down a staircase most passers-by never notice, a hidden room beneath one of the busiest tourist spots on earth – thousands cross the bridge above without ever knowing the pub is there. Its walls carry a timeline of the bridge’s construction, from Horace Jones’s first designs through the Blitz to the modern day, turning the whole pub into a little museum of Tower Bridge. To drink here is to drink inside history, in a secret vault beneath the great bridge. The 4.2 across fifteen hundred reviews is a solid score for so remarkable a hidden gem.
Verdict
A 4.2 across fifteen hundred-plus reviews is a solid score, and the Vault 1894 earns it on the sheer extraordinariness of its setting. It is a hidden pub tucked into the very fabric of Tower Bridge, down a secret staircase, named for 1894 – the year the great bridge opened – with the exposed brick arches of the bridge’s own vaulting overhead.
Go for the utterly unique setting and the secret staircase, mind your head on the low Victorian arches, and raise a pint inside Tower Bridge itself. Thousands cross the great bridge above without ever knowing the Vault is there – which is, of course, exactly what makes it a gem.
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. He currently lives in Holloway, North London. Contact: [email protected]
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