Blind Beggar

It was built in 1894 on the site of an inn which had been established before 1654, and named after the legend of Henry de Montfort, a son of Simon de Montfort.

The Blind Beggar is the site on which the Salvation Army started. In 1865 William Booth preached his first open air sermon outside the public house which led to the establishment of the East London Christian Mission, later to become the Salvation Army. William Booth is commemorated by a nearby statue.

The Blind Beggar is notorious for its connection to East End gangsters, the Kray twins. On 9 March 1966, Ronnie Kray shot and murdered George Cornell, an associate of a rival gang, the Richardsons, as he was sitting at the bar. The murder took place in the then saloon bar.

Today the pub was quiet with an Italian skyping his friend, and the other plugging in his Apple Mac