White Lion, Covent Garden

The White Lion, 2008

The White Lion is a pub in Covent Garden, London, on the corner of James Street and Floral Street.

There has been a pub called the White Lion on the site since at least 1839,[1] and the current pub was rebuilt in 1888, as can be seen under the rampant lion at the top of the building.

The White Lion Group, a radical political group in the 1820s and 1830s, with members including Dr Watson, and John Gale Jones, was named after the pub, as that had been their first meeting place.[2][3]

The White Lion was once used just by market traders and local people, but is now used mainly by tourists, office workers and opera goers.[4][5]

The pub is part of the Nicholson's pub chain.[4]

  1. ^ "White Lion, 24 James Street, St Paul, Covent Garden - A listing of historical London public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels in Covent Garden". Pubshistory.com. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  2. ^ Christina Parolin (2010). Radical Spaces: Venues of Popular Politics in London, 1790 - C. 1845. ANU E Press. pp. 161–164. ISBN 978-1-921862-00-7. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  3. ^ Iorwerth Prothero (14 October 2013). Artisans and Politics in Early Nineteenth-Century London (Routledge Revivals): John Gast and His Times. Routledge. pp. 126–129. ISBN 978-1-136-16386-9. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  4. ^ a b "White Lion". Nicholsonspubs.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Peter Ackroyd's historical tour of Covent Garden". www.coventgarden.london. Retrieved 4 July 2016.