The Ten Bells

[Archaic]

Hi, Gary, and welcome aboard!

Great Ten Bells story; got any more?

Some of us are stuck on the wrong side of the pond & have to visit these cool sites vicariously.

Best regards, Archaic

[Celesta]

Archaic, That's a good vid. Thank you.

Gary, Welcome aboard, if I haven't already greeted you. If I have, welcome aboard, anyway.

[Celesta]

I like the name of the medium: Marion Dampier-Jeans.

If I was in the Ten Bells at night and heard paranormal activity, Dampier Jeans is probably what I would have.

Yeah. But I would be headed for the door too fast to worry about it. I'll leave that paranormal stuff to braver folks, like Mike C. or Philip H.

[JennyL]

What I can't quite fathom is why the staff of Ten Bells would be hostile to anyone with the least interest in its infamous history? It's mentioned here on the boards over and over how dicey it is to snatch a photo, or how one daren't mention anything to do with the history to the 'tenders, etc. Why is that?

If it were a jealously guarded locals-only sort of pub perhaps I could see it but it's described as just the opposite--full of trendies, poseurs, that sort...in which case, especially if it's a bit of a dump, isn't its hardcore rep the reason those folk are there? Isn't it all the "cooler" that it's the pub where the most famous serial killer's victims did their drinking? Why is the Ripper association taboo? I'd think if I worked behind the bar I'd be pretty interested in its unique history!

In any case I'm surprised that there's attitude or outright rudeness towards professed-or suspected-ripperologists...if they're buying beers! That above all makes no sense to me. Isn't the aim of a pub to rake in the customers? Only way I could see a disdain for crime enthusiasts is if they swarmed in without buying anything.

[John Bennett]

Old fart goes on a Ten Bells rant...

Hi Jenny,

I guess the simple fact of the matter is that The Ten Bells has effectively 'reinvented itself'.

Despite the no doubt occasional 'Ripper buff' popping in for a curious visit, the current management/staff have little or no interest in that side of its history and the pub has been stripped of all the paraphenalia in an effort to transform it into the sort of boozer that appeals to the trendy, arty crowd that now flock into the area (whether they actually live in the area or not). It has been 'rediscovered'.

Here's an example which I may have posted a while back. I was helping a documentary film crew a few months ago and they had called the pub to arrange a possible bit of filming inside. According to the production co-ordinator, the reception on the other end of the phone was negative if not hostile. The owner said that they want nothing to do with JTR and did not want to be associated with what they felt was a distasteful interest in the murders. He did say however (and this says it all) that if it was a location for a big budget fashion shoot they were after then they were interested, but apparently it was a stupid amount of money. After telling me this, the production coordinator merely uttered the phrase 'stuck-up arseholes'.

If you go there at peak times such as Friday or Saturday nights, one does get the impression that the customers (who are predominantly under 30s and hip-looking) feel comfortable there. And there isn't really a local accent to be heard. I suppose they can now afford to weed out the Ripper tourists as it's busy enough already. 20 (or even 10) years ago it wasn't the case.

I had an Australian guy on my tour last night who used to go on Martin Fido's tours in the early 1990s and they used to stop in the pub during the tour. He couldn't believe that they had removed the JTR stuff and thought the pub looked in a terrible state. He appeared genuinely put out.

I believe The Ten Bells looks like it does because it has been marketed as 'urban cool'. It seems that those who are not entirely 'urban' believe that to be 'urban', a pub has to look like a sh*t-hole. Thus, they like it that way. Hence the shoddy furniture, peeling paint, awful toilets etc. In a way, the environment takes second place to the ability to have a good time in it - and lets face it, the young crowd that go there in their droves today do seem rather good at enjoying themselves, in spite of the grotty surroundings. In fact they have a hard time stopping enjoying themselves long enough to move out of the way when one is trying to get past! As a friend of mine put it during a visit last year, "I'm so bloody trendy I can't let you past".

Still, I pop in occasionally - people watching is quite fun there. Anybody remember 'Nathan Barley'?

JB
Rant over. Until the next one.

[JennyL]

Thanks, John--I enjoyed your "ranting".

I also believe every word you write is true, but it's funny--the irony to me is that here in little old Los Angeles a pub that dates back to the era of and included among its patrons infamous Victorian crime victims would be considered the epitome of "urban cool", chic, etc-whether it was overtly alluded to or not.
While I'm sure(or hope) no ripperologist would want to see a terribly cheesy approach to the pub's JtR association, the fact is that the pub is still here, it was there then, it has that connection, and that makes it genuinely historical and, well, cool--certainly not the opposite of cool, if cool is a place with a hell of an infamous history.

So funny (or sad) that our L.A.-version sh*t-holes are just that-bars that are truly dumps--with no charm and no hip patrons--that no one wants to be caught dead in. Our trendiest places rather go for exactly the neo-victorian/edwardian/roaring 20s look & vibe that I'd guess the Ten Bells would want to avoid at any cost!
I put it down to we poor Southern Californians being starved for history. Our few genuinely older buildings dating 100 plus years and back are therefore rare treasures, at their "coolest" when restored or maintained authentically-much more chic than the modern urban sort.

Jenny

[John Bennett]

Yo Jenny, you can't beat a good rant once in a while.

It all boils down to the changing social demographic of the area. I can only go back so far, but when the pub was called the 'Jack the Ripper' it always seemed to be very quiet - mostly locals by the look of it. This would have been about 1985 onward in my personal experience.

Interestingly, I recently read an interview with Sandra Esqulant (who has run the 'Golden Heart' up the road with her husband since 1979) and she said that the 1980s were a terrible time for trade, especially once the market had begun to wind down. If one thinks about what the area was like then, the immediate area was predominantly Bangladeshi occupied or in ruins. In other words, there weren't an awful lot of pub-goers in the area, although there were certainly a few more choices in those days, particularly on Brick Lane; The Jolly Butchers, Frying Pan, Seven Stars and Old Two Brewers were still operating then.

What changed I guess is when the old Georgian houses were being bought up - suddenly they weren't sweatshops and banana storage facilities any more, they were residences. The people who took these properties on were hardly dyed-in-the-wool working class pub locals and they seemed to be the first local residents to kick up a stink about the Ripper Tours. Different social background, different ethics, one might say.

And then there were the young artists who arrived in the 1990s when the old Truman brewery started being used as gallery space and studios. This was when places like the 'Golden Heart' and 'Ten Bells' saw a reversal in fortunes. Sandra Esqulant loves her locals apparently (Tracy Emin is one) and looks on them as revitalising the area, which they no doubt do. But the 'Golden Heart' doesn't have the same history as the 'Ten Bells'.

The 'White Hart' on Whitechapel High Street on the other hand (the one George Chapman worked under) has several boards up about JTR and nobody seems to mind. But if you look at the clientele there, it's very different from up the road.

As I have said before, just over a decade ago, Spitalfields was not really the sort of place where one would go for a good time. Now it certainly is, although those that do go there for leisure seem quite happy for the area to change on their terms, rather than fit in with the history already there.

But that's how it's always been, whether you were Huguenot, Jew, Bengali or annoying poseur. Umbra Sumus. I wonder who will be next?

[ken]

I would like the add to the rant of Mr B, Re. The Ten Bells

My Rant

I'm in my early 30's and happen to be interested in JTR which would in no way compute with the current landlord of the Bells.

It must have been about 4 or 5 years ago when i went in the Bells and wondered why the victims plaque on the outside had been removed after all the stuff by the mosaic had also been withdrawn. There was hardly anyone in the pub so i asked one of the bar staff about this, he went over to the landlord, who was sat at the other side of the pub, repeated my question and was told (i could hear due to the place was pretty much empty) to tell me to "f**k Off". The barman who was roughly my age came back to me and sheepishly asked me if i'd heard his boss's response.

I strongly believe that if a pub (or an area) is in vogue young people will drink there no matter how much Ripper info is on the walls or the state of the pub itself. The landlord is a fool because what he has done is turn a beautiful pub in great area into a shitty youth club due to his neglect/lack of interest.

Catering to what you think young people may like is always dead end i reckon. The students that go in there would not be bothered in the least if he gave the place a bit of a clean, put some nice furniture back in and stuck the ripper info back up.

[John Bennett]

..he went over to the landlord, who was sat at the other side of the pub, repeated my question and was told (i could hear due to the place was pretty much empty) to tell me to "f**k Off".

I have to say that's probably the most extreme reaction I've heard! Perhaps he'd had a bad day.

I'd have to disagree on one point there, Ken (though it's just an opinion):

..The students that go in there would not be bothered in the least if he gave the place a bit of a clean, put some nice furniture back in and stuck the ripper info back up.

I certainly think you're right to assume that the folk that go there now would not be concerned about a bit of a spring clean and a furniture rethink. However, I reckon there would be a bit of a grumble if the Ripper stuff went up again. History or not, it is still 'ghastly murder' of a horrible nature.

However, the problem here is the outright rejection of that history. I don't personally believe that putting Ripper memorabilia back up (least of all the victims boards) would be doing anybody a favour these days.
I do notice people getting a bit miffed when they discover that the pub is no longer promoting its dubious past; sometimes to the point where you think that they feel they have some ownership or say because it's their 'beloved' Ten Bells.

But it's all a bit like people who move near to Heathrow and then complain about noise created by the new runways etc. Well what do you expect, it's a bloody airport! The Ten Bells has a world famous history - there's no getting away from it. If you're going to manage the pub, it's something you're going to be confronted with on a regular basis. It may not be necessary to embrace that history to the extent they did in the 1970s, but the owners should at least understand that it is part-and-parcel of the package. It's strange to think that they are arrogant enough to believe that they can do some Orwellian erasure of history.

They may not need to 'big up' the Ripper, but hey can at least be nice to the punters who are even in the slightest bit interested.

[John Bennett]

Enough of my ranting. Here's an account of the haunted 'Jack the Ripper' pub from August 1975.


Interesting what people want to believe. Sandra may have been a Chapman from an old East End family, but I'm sure she didn't realise that Annie Chapman was originally a Smith from West End!

[Rob Clack]

I thought that was Noel Edmonds, John.

[John Bennett]

I thought that was Noel Edmonds, John.

I must admit, the likeness is rather scary. Scarier than the ghost stories in the article, come to that.

[Archaic]

Grotty!

Hey, John, you spoke of the Ten Bells having "grotty surroundings" - wasn't that a 'Swinging London' slang term popularized by The Beatles?

George called something 'dead grotty' in one of their first films, 'A Hard Day's Night' I think. (It meant 'ugly or groteseque', the opposite of 'gear')

>>OK, John, rant all you want now; you're cool in my book!!

Beatles 4 Ever, Archaic

[John Bennett]

Here I go again.

I popped in there yesterday at about 6pm for a quick half before my tour. It was quite busy but getting to the bar was easy enough and I was the only person who needed serving.

There were five people behind the bar - do you think anybody noticed me waiting? No! They were too busy doing a little dance to the incredibly loud music.

Thankfully one chap did notice me eventually.

I can't help going back, I must be getting addicted to the feeling of being slightly annoyed. I'm going again later!

Yours truly
Glutton for Punishment.

[JennyL]

"There were five people behind the bar - do you think anybody noticed me waiting? No! They were too busy doing a little dance to the incredibly loud music."

That sounds exactly like what we have much too much of in certain popular Hollywood clubs. Of course it figures that rude bartenders with attitude are everywhere. I've passed as a "cool artist" sort but I'm sure I'm not the type they'd jump to take an order from. At least now whenever I do visit I'm forewarned!

-Jenny (yet another glutton for punishment if the inducements are right)