Plaque

(lost) Hand & Racquet

Inscription

The Hand & Racquet has been around in different forms since the Tudor times (1600's) - originally founded as a brewery by William Whitcomb who gave his name to the street and to the surrounding streets. They were named after some of the local brews i.e. 'Panton Ale' and 'Oxen Ale'.

The Pub stayed much the same until 1827 when it moved, quite how no one knows but it moved from 21 Whitcomb Street to 48 which it is still at!

In 1865 the upstairs bar/restaurant was added by the Oldbury Family who ran the pub for over 50 years. The upstairs became a Mecca for comedy, artists such as Tony Hancock, Sid James and Tommy Cooper were often seen quaffing ale or two!

Tommy Cooper, when the bar was split into 2 bars would use his height to peer to through the windows to see if anyone he knew was in the bar, as he always tried to avoid buying other people drinks. The problem was everyone would see the fez and follow him in.

Tony Hancock's 2 writers Galton and Simpson used the pub, which gets a mention, in many of the famous Hancock's Half-Hours.

Site: Hand & Racquet (1 memorial)

WC2, Whitcomb Street, Hand and Racquet pub

In 2009 Alan Patient reported that "the pub has been boarded up for many months and the plaque removed." 2013: The Victorian Society are fighting to save this building from demolition, and it's there that we learn "The name refers to the tennis court and the national headquarters of the game which had been located across the street until 1866." 2015: Alan Patient reports that the battle was lost - the pub and a lot of the surrounding buildings have been demolished. Very sad.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the subjects commemorated on the memorial on this page:
Hand & Racquet

Subjects commemorated i

Galton and Simpson

Wrote Steptoe and Son, and others.

Read More

Tommy Cooper

Comedian.  Born Wales.  Member of the Magic Circle.  Died of a heart attack o...

Read More

Tony Hancock

Comedy actor.  Otherwise known as Anthony Aloysius St. John Hancock, of 23 Ra...

Read More

Sid James

Comedy actor.  Born in Johannesburg (on Hancock Street), South Africa, to a p...

Read More

Show all 6

Nearby Memorials

River Effra - Canterbury Square 5

River Effra - Canterbury Square 5

SW9, Brixton Road, Canterbury Square

Photographed and numbered from north to south. A nearby information board: On your right is the old Roman road to the south coast (now t...

1 subject commemorated, 3 creators
Finsbury Park Empire Theatre

Finsbury Park Empire Theatre

N4, St Thomas’s Road, Vaudville Court

Site of the Finsbury Park Empire Theatre, 1910 - 1960, home to music hall and variety entertainment. London Borough of Islington - Isling...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator
Cardinal Newman - WC1

Cardinal Newman - WC1

WC1, Southampton Place, 17

Here, in early life, lived John Henry Cardinal Newman. Born 1801 : Died 1890.

1 subject commemorated
Sir Isaac Newton's house- simple

Sir Isaac Newton's house- simple

WC2, St Martin's Street, 35, Westminster Reference Library

Londonist's post about this house and Newton's observatory is excellent. They have a picture of the house in about 1900 (from the lady's ...

1 subject commemorated
Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough

SW1, Pall Mall, 82

London County Council Thomas Gainsborough, 1727 - 1788, artist, lived here.

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator

Previously viewed

Lord Beaverbrook

Lord Beaverbrook

Newspaper publisher and politician. Born William Maxwell Aitken in Maple, Ontario. He came to Britain in 1910, and served as an MP 1911-16. In 1919, he took over The Daily Express, and later founde...

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Politics & Administration, Canada

1 memorial
Henry Hugh Armstead

Henry Hugh Armstead

Sculptor and illustrator. Born Bloomsbury. Executed a large number of public statues and funerary works, and worked closely with George Gilbert Scott on the Albert Memorial. Died at home 52 Circus ...

Person, Art

68 memorials
Corporation of the City of London

Corporation of the City of London

The municipal governing body of the City of London. Officially the 'Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London'. In 2006 the name was changed from just 'Corporation of London' to disti...

Group, Commerce, Politics & Administration

185 memorials
Tolpuddle Martyrs

Tolpuddle Martyrs

6 Dorset farm labourers, transported to Australia for joining a trade union. Following mass protests against their treatment the government was forced to give pardons and eventually after 2 years, ...

Group, Politics & Administration, Social Welfare, Australia

2 memorials
Louis Russell

Louis Russell

Sculptor from Workingstone.

Person, Craft / Design

2 memorials