Elephant

The Story

Built before the Great Fire of London and barely escaped it, surrounded on all sides by fiercely burning houses. William Hogarth lodged here and, between 1724 and 1734, painted four pictures on the tap-room walls: the Hudson's Bay Company porters going to dinner (their warehouse was nearby), his first study for Modern Midnight Conversation — a version too broad in its humour for the engraver to publish even in that less particular age — Harlequin and Pierrot laughing at the scene opposite, and a representation of Barton Bush Fair. When a parochial dinner was moved from the Elephant to the King's Head across the street, Hogarth followed, quarrelled, and stormed back threatening to paint the entire company on the Elephant tap-room wall. The tavern was demolished in 1826; before it came down, two of the pictures were removed. Henry Meux and Co.'s Entire was the beer of the rebuilt house — one of the earliest outdoor records of that firm. The Young's pub that eventually occupied 119 Fenchurch Street, locally known as The Zoo, closed in October 2014 as the block was earmarked for demolition.