The George Inn And Borough Market

Vicki had read of the George Inn as the oldest pub in London, and it bills itself as London's oldest coach inn. Located at the London Bridge, the only bridge across the river until the 18th century, it had a strategic location for travelers and merchants entering London from the south. According to records, there has been a public house on this site, called The George, at least since 1542, which suggests that Shakespeare, who worked in the neighborhood, might well have popped in now and then for a cool one. (This is Britain; they don't do cold ones). The present building dates in part from the later 1600s (fires and such), and Dickens himself was a regular; and wrote about it in the very famous Little Dorrit. It had been days since my last fish and chips, and we figured this was as good a place as any and also to complement our visit to the Tate. It was Friday afternoon, the place was a madhouse, tables already reserved, but we found one, and tried to blend in as well as people with cameras can. After a satisfying meal and touristic experience we headed out but were immediately drawn into the Borough Market, more or less across the street. The market is formed under the confluence of two or three major roads and railroad lines, converging at the London Bridge station (Waterloo is not far). Most of the London markets we have seen have been bric-a-brac and such, little in the way of food, but the Borough Market was very much about food, if a bit on the upscale side.

That George, not the ones from Hanover

When you're this old you're entitled to have a history

Will definitely be on the quiz

Did you know the phrase "What the Dickens" actually
goes back at least to Shakespeare's The Merry Wives
of Windsor? And beyond that too? And that Little
Dorrit has seen five different movie versions, its casts
a veritable who's-who of British actors and actresses?

Neat place, neat experience; so-so fish and chips,

but the Golden George ale was great

A market has been on this site, where the bridge crosses the river,
since at least the 11th century, and certainly before, and has been
altered and added to many times, especially since the advent of
railroads; we might not have seen the entrance but for the tiny
1932 art deco structure above

19th century rent control

Aging 

Varieties of gluten-free, sugar-free, etc.

Goat milk ice cream anyone?

Another "must return" place

Along The Southwark

After Tate Britain our plan was to walk the Southwark again, by a different route, all the way to London Bridge and the George Inn, which Vicki had read about as one of the oldest inns or public houses in London. The Southwark is not quite as densely built-up and historic as the other side of the river, but it is still a pleasure to walk. When we first visited, in the 70s, it seemed to us little more than a slum. Things have change and, indeed, throughout all of the central London, we have seen nothing like a slum. Some sights along the way...

View down river from Lambeth Bridge

Main sight

Almost all the way along the south side from Lambeth Bridge 
to Westminster Bridge...

The very sad National COVID Memorial Wall

Alas, still growing

Many old historic buildings, some still in use, some not

At a Thai bistro we still might get to

Beer-bellied building

Historic building or railway in the way? Just
build over it...

New development

Passing by an urban resources office

Rescue archaeology, we used to call it

The beautiful old Hop Exchange, art nouveau to our eyes

And just down the street, another old beauty,
apparently abandoned

Return To Tate Britain

We returned to the Tate Britain August 20th for some unfinished business, namely the Rothko and Turner and 20th century and contemporary stuff we hadn't seen the previous visit. All this we would conjoin with an early dinner at the George inn near London Bridge, after walking more of the Southwark. It has been brought to my attention that Joseph Mallard William Turner has been well enough represented in my posts from London, so I will restrain myself in posting further pix of his paintings. A bit.

I think it is somehow telling that my camera, and presumably 
others, always has difficulty focusing on works of art like this
"mural" by Rothko; never could find anything to focus on except
the floor

Important background on the Seagram Murals; and
I thought it was because you had to drink half a
bottle of Seagram's to find anything of interest in
these paintings; but, hey, he was a Turner fan, 
and wanted his works to rest near Turner's, so
there must be something...

Turner self-poritrait in 1799, age 24, on the
occasion of having been admitted to the Royal
Academy; I'm hardly an expert, but this is the
only portrait I know of by Turner, whether of
himself of someone else 

There is a whole room of some of the paintings found in his studio
after his death in 1851, regarded at the time as unfinished; what Turner
regarded as finished is a lively issue...Breakers on a Flat Beach, 
1835-40

Entrance of the Meuse, 1819; described as a "visual pun": the
Dutch ship has run aground and lost its cargo of oranges...the
House of Orange had suffered catastrophic financial losses in
the Napoleonic wars...

Holy Family, 1803; in the early 1800s Turner was attempting to
move from associate to full member of the Royal Academy and 
attempting to please the membership by doing more work in the
"Grand Masters" style; this is thought to be after a now lost Titian
he would have seen at the Louvre; it is one of very, very few
paintings on a Biblical theme by Turner

The Tenth Plague of Egypt, 1802; ditto

Rome from the Vatican. Raffaelle, Accompanied by La Fornarina,
Preparing His Picture for the Decoration of the Loggia, 1820;
as I have noted, Turner was not into the whole brevity thing, but
he did admire Raphael

Very early Turner, Moonlight, a Study at Millbank, 1797; 
Millbank became the location of the Tate Britain

Reclining Venus, 1828; nudes are almost as rare as Biblical
subjects for Turner; fortunately

Having exceeded our quota of Turners for the day, we have now
moved on to the more recent stuff...

More from the "I could have done that school"; as I learned in
the 1980s, I could not not do that...

I'm guessing this is supposed to make us reflect on the nature of

art, or possibly other things; Vicki did not get sucked in

David Hockney, A Bigger Splash, 1967; I do like Hockney, because 

of his subjects, his use of acrylics, and his use of a Mac for some of 

his later work

Sculpture; something about gender roles; the
steps and tool box are lined in red velvet...

I don't much care for Henry Moore sculpture but
was impressed by this wartime sketch, Tube
Shelter Perspective, 1941