Admiral Duncan (pub)
| Admiral Duncan | |
|---|---|
 The Admiral Duncan in 2021 | |
 Location within Soho, London | |
| Etymology | Admiral Adam Duncan |
| General information | |
| Location | Soho,London |
| Address | 54Old Compton Street,London, W1 |
| Coordinates | 51°30′46″N0°07′57″W/ 51.5129°N 0.1324°W |
| Owner | Stonegate Pub Company |
| Website | |
| https://www.admiral-duncan.co.uk/ | |
TheAdmiral Duncanis apublic houseinOld Compton Street,Soho,in central London that is well known as one of Soho's oldestgay pubs.
In 1999, the pubwas bombedbyneo-NaziDavid Copeland,resulting in three people being killed and 83 being injured.
Etymology
[edit]The pub is named afterAdmiral Adam Duncan,who defeated the Dutch fleet at theBattle of Camperdownin 1797.[1]
History
[edit]Early years
[edit]The Admiral Duncan has been trading since at least 1832.
In June of that year, Dennis Collins, a wooden-legged Irish ex-sailor living at the pub, was charged withhigh treasonfor throwing stones atKing William IVatAscot Racecourse.[2][3]Collins was convicted and sentenced to behanged, drawn and quartered,as the medieval punishment for high treason was then still in effect. However, his sentence was quickly commuted to life imprisonment[2]and he was subsequentlytransported to Australia.[4]
In December 1881, a customer received eight years' penal servitude for various offences in connection with his ejection from the Admiral Duncan public house by keeper William Gordon.[5]In 1887, theAlgerian Coffee Storeswas established next door to the Admiral Duncan.
During the 1920s, the Admiral Duncan was frequented by mob bossCharles "Darby" Sabiniand was a gathering place for members of his gang.[6][7]On 4 February 1930 there was a fierce brawl in the pub after six members of the Sabini gang's rivals, theHoxton Gang,entered and attacked two of the Sabinis who were drinking there.[8]Both men were slashed with a broken drinking glass; one – George Seawell – was badly beaten by four of the Hoxton gang. Around £200 worth of damage was caused.[8]The fracas was broken up by police and the six Hoxton Gang members were arrested. Three of them – brothers John and Arthur Phillips, and John Daly – were later sentenced to five years, three years and 12 months in prison[9][10][11]
In 1953,Dylan Thomaslost the only hand-written copy of his famous radio dramaUnder Milk Woodin the pub, leaving it there during the course of a drinking binge.[12]It was later found by his radio producer,Douglas Cleverdon,who managed to retrace Thomas' steps.[13]
By the 1980s, the Admiral Duncan had become known as agay pub,although it was not exclusively so and was still attracting a diverse clientele.[14]
Bombing
[edit]
At around 6:05 pm on Friday 30 April 1999, a bomb in a sports bag was planted in the Admiral Duncan byNeo-Nazi,David Copeland.[15]It was the third bomb he had planted in London in aone-man campaignintended to stir upethnicandhomophobictensions.[16][17]
Copeland's previous bomb attacks, on 17 April inBrixtonand on 24 April inHanbury StreetinWhitechapel,had made Londoners wary. The unattended bag aroused the suspicions of people in the pub, but the bag exploded at 6:37 pm just as it was being investigated by the pub manager, Mark Taylor.[18][19]Three people died and 83 suffered burns and injuries – four of the injured needed amputations.[15]
Copeland was still in the area and was close enough to hear the explosion. Police had identified him as a suspect around an hour before he planted the bomb. He was arrested at his home later that evening.[15]
A large open air meeting was spontaneously organised inSoho Squareon the Sunday following the attack, attended by thousands. Among the speeches was one from theMetropolitan PoliceAssistant Commissioner who undertook to maintain a crime scene van outside the pub to take witness statements and gather evidence until the perpetrator was found; the van would be staffed entirely withopenlygayandlesbianpolice officers. This marked a turning point for the previously often tempestuous relationship between theLGBT communityand the Metropolitan Police.
There is a memorialchandelierwith an inscription and aplaquein the bar to commemorate those killed and injured in the blast.[18]
The playwright Jonathan Cash, then working forGay Times,was among the injured.[18]He later used the experience as the basis for his play,The First Domino,about a fictionalterroristbeing interviewed by apsychiatristin a top-security prison.[20]
Assistant bar managerDavid Morley37, from Chiswick, west London, was one of those injured in the bombing and was murdered in London after a robbery or homophobic attack on the morning of 30 October 2004.[21]He and a friend were badly beaten near London's Hungerford Bridge andWaterloo stationon the South Bank.[22]In December 2005, four youths were found guilty of Morley'smanslaughter.Reece Sargeant (21), Darren Case (18) and David Blenman (17), all fromKennington,South London,were sentenced to 12 years each. A fifteen-year-old girl, Chelsea O'Mahoney (aged fourteen at the time of the incident) was sentenced to an 8-year custodial sentence. Thejuryhad returned a verdict ofmanslaughteras they are permitted to do.
Rainbow flags controversy
[edit]In late 2005,Westminster City Councilordered the Admiral Duncan and all other LGBT bars andgay businessesthat operated in its jurisdiction, including those inSohoandCovent Garden,to remove theirpride flags.The council claimed that the flags constituted advertising, which was forbidden by itslocal development plan,and said businesses would need to apply for advertising permits to fly the flags.[23]Some businesses who applied to fly flags had their applications refused. Following media allegations of homophobia in the council, theI Love Sohocampaign and intense pressure from the thenMayor of London,Ken Livingstone,the Council reversed its policy, allowing businesses to fly rainbow flags without applying for permission.[24]
Ownership
[edit]In 2004 the pub was bought from theScottish & NewcastleBrewery by the Tattershall Castle Group (TCG). In 2015, it was acquired byStonegate Pub Companyas one of 53 pubs purchased from TCG.[25]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^Rothwell, David (2006).The dictionary of pub names.Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions. p. 11.ISBN1-84022-266-2.OCLC352936023.
- ^ab"High Treason".The Hull Packet and Humber Mercury.No. 2493. Hull. 28 August 1832.
- ^"Traitorous Assault upon His Majesty".The Morning Chronicle.No. 19606. London. 28 June 1832.
- ^Lowth, Cormac."The One-Legged Sailor and the King".Inis na Mara.National Maritime Museum of Ireland. Archived fromthe originalon 25 May 2011.Retrieved4 November2012.
- ^Middlesex Sessions;The Times,29 December 1881; p. 10; col A.
- ^Morton, James (2012).The mammoth book of gangs.London: Robinson.ISBN978-1-78033-088-4.OCLC786190693.
"Meanwhile from the 1920's onwards, the Sabinis had been branching out, taking interests in the West End drinking and gabling clubs, and installing and running slot machines. One of their principal hangouts was the Admiral Duncan in Old Comption Street, Soho
- ^Hutton, Mike (2012).The Story of Soho: the Windmill Years 1932–1964.Stroud.ISBN978-1-4456-1231-7.OCLC1100658380.
A hush would spread through the Admiral Duncan in Old Comption street when the boys entered. Darby would look round the room and if in a good mood would order drinks all round
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ab"Public House Brawl in Soho".The Times.No. 45436. London. 13 February 1930. p. 9.
- ^Chinn, Carl (2021).Peaky Blinders The real story behind the next generation of British gangsters.London: John Blake.ISBN978-1-78946-452-8.OCLC1276856499.
- ^Chinn, Carl (2021).Peaky Blinders: the aftermath: the real story of Britain's most notorious mid-20th century gangs.London.ISBN978-1-78946-451-1.OCLC1263811773.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^"Gang Rivalry in Soho".The Times.No. 45478. London. 3 April 1930. p. 11.
- ^Hibbert, Christopher (2011).The London Encyclopaedia(3rd ed.). London. p. 599.ISBN978-0-230-73878-2.OCLC969664422.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^Miles, Barry (2010).London calling: a countercultural history of London since 1945.London: Atlantic.ISBN978-1-84354-613-9.OCLC495596145.
- ^Howse, Christopher (2018).Soho in the eighties.London.ISBN978-1-4729-1480-4.OCLC1031419537.
The Admiral Duncan in Old Compton Street, named after the hero of Camperdown against the Dutch in 1797, was not exclusively queer in the eighties, but by 1999 was to have become enough of an emblem of gay life to attract the attention of David Copeland, a nasty bit of work who planted a nail bomb there that killed three and wounded dozens of people.
{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^abcHopkins, Nick and Hall, Sarah."David Copeland: a quiet introvert, obsessed with Hitler and bombs",The Guardian,30 June 2000.
- ^"1999: Dozens injured in Soho nail bomb".BBC On This Day.30 April 1999.Retrieved16 April2019.
- ^Dornan, R I P (22 May 1999)."The Soho bomb".The British Medical Journal.318(318): 1429.doi:10.1136/bmj.318.7195.1429.PMC1115811.PMID10334784.Retrieved16 April2019.
- ^abcSimon Edge."Look Back in Anger".Gay Times.Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2011.Retrieved30 July2011.
- ^"Gay murder victim survived Soho bomb".TheGuardian.com.2 November 2004.
- ^Emily-Ann Elliott (5 May 2009)."Bomb survivor writes Brighton play".The Argus.Retrieved27 July2011.
- ^Cohen, Benjamin (14 December 2005)."Teen gang convicted of manslaughter of gay barman".Pink News.Retrieved30 November2015.
- ^"Soho nail bomb survivor murdered".The BBC. 1 November 2004.Retrieved1 February2009.
- ^"Gay flag ban 'attacks identity'".BBC News.18 January 2005.Retrieved16 April2019.
- ^"Westminster u-turn on gay rainbow flags ban".Pink News.8 November 2005.Retrieved16 April2019.
- ^"Stonegate places London pubs on market".8 October 2015.Retrieved16 April2019.
