Prospect of Whitby

About Prospect of Whitby

A riverside pub on Wapping Wall dating in some form to around 1520, widely billed as the oldest surviving riverside pub in London, once called the Devil's Tavern for its clientele of smugglers and thieves.

The Prospect of Whitby traces its licence back to around 1520, when it traded under the name the Pelican and, later, the Devil's Tavern, a name earned by a clientele that reportedly ran heavily to smugglers, cut-throats and footpads working the Wapping riverside. It took its current name in the 19th century from a collier ship, the Prospect, that used to moor nearby, having sailed from the Yorkshire port of Whitby. The pub's pewter-topped bar counter is claimed as one of the longest in any London pub, and past patrons are said to have included Samuel Pepys, Charles Dickens and the painter J.M.W. Turner, drawn by the same river views that visitors come for today. A replica gibbet still hangs over the river at the rear of the building, a nod to the nearby Execution Dock where pirates were once hanged at the low-water mark, and the pub, now run by Greene King, keeps regular live jazz nights alongside its riverside terrace trade.