Turner's Old Star

About Turner's Old Star

A traditional Wapping backstreet pub bought around 1833 by the painter J.M.W. Turner, who installed his companion Sophia Booth as landlady and adopted her surname, calling himself 'Puggy Booth', to keep the relationship private.

Around 1833, the painter J.M.W. Turner, by then one of the most celebrated artists in England, bought two cottages on this quiet Wapping street and converted them into a tavern for Sophia Booth, a widow who had become his long-term companion. To protect his privacy and reputation, Turner adopted Booth's surname and lived locally under the name 'Mr Booth', earning the affectionate nickname 'Puggy Booth' among neighbours for his short, stocky build, rarely revealing his true identity even as he continued to paint some of his most celebrated late Thames-side works from nearby vantage points. The original tavern building from that era survives on the site, and following an extensive 1987 renovation the pub was renamed Turner's Old Star in tribute to its most famous former owner. It remains one of the few genuinely traditional, unmodernised East End pubs left in Wapping, Cask Marque-certified and serving a loyal local crowd on a street that sees little passing trade.