*”Tobacco Dock”-London E1-‘Open Day Visit’ (Jan 2024)

As regular ‘London Shoes’ followers will know, my ‘Shoes’ haven’t pounded the pavements of the ‘Smoke’ since the 1^st Dec 2023 – the day when I had an altercation with a delivery rider’s e-bike whilst crossing a road up in the City – an incident that unfortunately left me with a smashed right ankle and badly damaged calf muscle and connected tendons/ligaments & nerves of my left leg.

It’s now been 2 months since this incident, and it’s fair to say that recovery has not been as straight forward and successful as I would have wished for, as I am still in a fair old bit of discomfort, and not able to walk with stride and pace, as I once could.

However – I guess it’s still early days, and I will just have to be patient and just hope things will return to normal soon – trouble is, those that know me, know only too well that I am a very impatient boy – so let’s see what happens.

I just wanted to say a massive thank you for all the kind and supportive messages I’ve received from ‘Shoes’ followers, I can’t begin to tell you just how much they cheered me up and inspired me to get back ‘on-the-road’ and produce more ‘Shoes’ stuff – I am very grateful to everyone.

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Anyway – having said the above, London Shoes did actually conduct a blog visit a couple of Saturday’s back. I perhaps shouldn’t have ventured out that day, as I certainly wasn’t fit or capable enough – however – the occasion was just too good for me to turn down, as it was a one-off opportunity to visit the place in question – under the circumstances that were on offer to me.

So – to elaborate further, here’s the back story to the topic in question.

A couple of years ago my London Shoes visited ‘TOBACCO DOCK’ down in the heart of London’s east-end and published a blog that covered off the story of this unique historic site.

Anyway – following publication of the blog, I received some very complimentary feedback from someone from Tobacco Dock’s management team – thanking me for producing and publishing my blog article and saying how much they enjoyed it.

Now – imagine my surprise when, just before Xmas, my London Shoes received an email from the very same person, personally inviting me to Tobacco Dock as a special guest at an Open Day event they were holding on Sat 20^th Jan.

My invite consisted of a private tour of this historic site, which is not usually open or accessible to the general public.

It was an invite that I just couldn’t turn down, and so with my trusted long-time good mate Pete, playing the part of my ‘carer’ for the day – and my newly acquired folding walking stick, purchased from a local charity shop – I headed off east, in the direction of Tobacco Dock, a site that is located between the Shadwell and Wapping districts of London.

Tobacco Dock was opened in 1812, and was designed by Scotsman John Rennie, who was responsible for London Bridge and many other famous London landmarks.

The Dock was originally 70 acres in size (today it’s only a fifth of its original size)

It was built to store the cargoes of tobacco imported from the ‘New World’ (i.e. the Americas)

Tobacco was an extremely valuable commodity back in Victorian times, and it was constantly under threat of piracy and theft.

To protect the Dock’s precious bounty, and at a cost of £65k (£5m in today’s money) – a massive high wall was built surrounding the dock site – in a attempt to keep the thieves out.

Throughout the Victorian era, it wasn’t just tobacco that was stored at the Dock’s warehouses – wool, furs, animal skins and even booze (especially the popular ‘Hogs Head’ sherry)  were all stored and dealt with at Tobacco Dock.

It is reported that vermin used to be such a big problem at the Dock, that at one stage, over 300 cats were ‘employed’ at the site in an attempt to control the volume of rats and mice running around everywhere.

Tobacco Dock also has a famous local folklore story connected to it – when in the early 1800’s a man called Charles Jamrach, arranged for the importation of a Bengal Tiger, with the intention of putting it on display in his ‘Exotic Animals Emporium’, located close to the Dock.

Anyway – whilst it was being unloaded at Tobacco Dock, this Bengal tiger broke free of its wooden transportation box and trotted off down the road outside. The story goes that everyone ran for their lives, except for a little 8yr old boy – who, never having seen a real-life tiger before, went up to it to give it a stroke. The tiger wasn’t having any of that, and whacked the child around the head with one of its paws, and then picked the boy up in its jaws, and strolled off with him to a nearby alley.

On hearing all this commotion, Charles Jamrach confronted the tiger – shoved his bare hands down its throat, forcing the tiger to let go of the child. Fortunately, the little lad escaped any serious injury.

Today – a statue of the Bengal Tiger and little boy stands inside Tobacco Dock in commemoration of this famous incident.

Tobacco Dock eventually came to the end of its trading days, in the same way as all the London Docks – and it finally closed for good in 1969.

The Dock was then left abandoned and derelict for over 20yrs, and the only people who went anywhere near it were squatters, the homeless and people attending illegal raves and events like that.

Throughout the 1980’s there was a lot of serious talk going on about completely demolishing the old dock and its buildings  and selling the vast area of land off to developers.

However – ‘English Heritage’ got wind of these proposals and acted fast to ensure this historic site was not lost forever, by placing it on the ‘at risk register’ – thus preserving the site – which is now protected by a Grade 1 Listed status.

In 1990 big money was eventually invested into the site and it was developed into a brand-new subterranean shopping centre at a cost of £47m – and dubbed the new ‘Covent Garden’.

However, all this happened at a time in history when the country was facing a bit of an economic crisis, and as result the scheme failed disastrously, and its management went into administration.

Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s the deserted Tobacco Dock site was regularly used as a tv/film and music video location.

Notable examples would be the popular ‘Ashes to Ashes’ tv series – a number of scenes were shot at Tobacco Dock.

The video to the Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark 1980 released hit single “Messages” was filmed on the upper level of Tobacco Dock.

By the 2012, entertainment and event companies started to ‘hire’ Tobacco Dock for leisure and corporate events, particularly its salubriously elegant ‘Henry’s Bar’ situated on the dock’s upper level. It became a very popular location for (legal) raves and similar music related gatherings.

In 2012 Tobacco Dock was converted into barracks to house military personnel during the London Olympics.

So – to be invited to a private guided tour of the Tobacco Dock site, prior to opening its doors for its Open Day event – was an opportunity that my London Shoes could not resist, despite my hampered mobility.

With the assistance of my mate Pete, we made it to the gates of the Dock where we were met by the lovely Florence, our guide for the tour – and for the next couple of hours we explored every nook and crannie of this historic London Docklands landmark, learning about its varied history as we went along.

It was a fantastic tour – learned so much, that I never knew before – and like a lot of my Shoes visits, I felt that I was standing on the shoulders of giants that went before, as I soaked up the vibe of what it must have been like in its heyday.

The magnificent Victorian brickwork – the many statues that are on display – the empty (retail) outlets scattered throughout the site – the 2 old ships in the dry dock, that have been restored for educational purposes – the old ship figureheads on display throughout the site – the old signage relating to certain sections of the dock – the glamorous Henry’s Bar (although we weren’t allowed entry into it on the day) – even the old flagstones, tell a story of days gone by.

All in all it was a great day out, even though I struggled with my mobility for long periods of time – a big thank you to Florence for taking the time and trouble to be so accommodating to me and my London Shoes.

I really hope that there is a positive and lucrative future for Tobacco Dock – I would love to see retail companies taking up residencies in the site – and to see the place full of bars and restaurants – and obviously people – this old dock has so much to offer, and it deserves to be popular once again.

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So – after a couple of hours hobbling around Tobacco Dock, I crawled onto a single decker bus down on Wapping High Street – and got off at Canary Wharf, a place I know very well, having worked there for the last 14yrs of my career.

My destination was “The Ledger Building” pub situated on the outskirts of West India Dock.

The ‘Ledger’ is a magnificent Grade 1 Listed–1804 built Georgian building that was redesigned to its present layout by John Rennie in 1827 (the same guy that built Tobacco Dock). It was once the building where all the imports and exports coming into and out of the dock, were logged and recorded.

Today it’s a ‘Spoons’ pub – the cheapest pub by far in the Canary Wharf area – it was also once my ‘work local’.

So – after an extremely exhausting and at times uncomfortable day for me – 6 hours in total, on me trotters –  me and my mate proceeded to get stuck into a bowl of chips and chicken wings, washed down with a couple of ‘cheeky’ beers – before eventually heading off back home.

A very tiring but extremely enjoyable day – its was great to be back on-the-road again.

Hope you enjoyed this little story and its accompanying photos.

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See below the full and extensive gallery of photos taken to accompany this blog