A Visit to Molly's

 

                      Fig (1)  Molly's Cafe, looking like an artist's impression.  Friday 14th                                                            May 2021

                                                    

I have written quite a bit on here about the Marquis of Lansdowne.  This was the pub that was the childhood home of myself and my siblings.  One of my (many) outstanding research tasks is to complete a short article about the history of the pub – but that is for another day.  The battle to save the pub for demolition has also been well documented by others.

On Friday 14^th May 2021 I had cause to be in London, a rare thing as we move out of lockdown.  I had seen on the internet that the refreshment room for the Museum of the Home (formerly the Geffrye Museum) was to open for external customers (eating establishments  will be able to re-open properly on Monday 17^th May).  I tweaked my arrangements and found myself standing outside the new entrance in Geffrye Street at opening time (10-00).  I was the first customer, which pleased me in a childish way, and was given a warm welcome by Rob and his team who operate the place.  If anything can truly represent the gentrification of Shoreditch it is the transformation of the Marquis of Lansdowne from derelict east London pub to modern café and apartments.  It is also a far cry from the wooden structure stuck on the side of the museum which functioned as a tea room for many years.

To be frank, there isn’t a lot left of the pub.  The whole of the interior has been ripped out and only the original  façade is intact.  The dodgy rear extension (with the perennial crack) has gone and the back yard is now occupied by a terrace and ‘canteen’ area.  A small block of flats is attached to the top and side of the building.  The flats are not especially attractive (although they look good in comparison to the 1960s efforts nearby) but I suspect that that their inclusion is what made the project financially viable.  A quick look at RIGHTMOVE shows that it is an eight flat development and that a 2 bed flat is selling for £850,000.  How anyone can afford such prices is beyond my puny economic imagination. 

                                                 Fig (2)  View from Cremer Street showing the flats

The café is known at Molly’s and is named after a pioneering curator of the museum who worked to encourage education programmes in the 1940s and beyond. All the hours spent tramping around the museum in the company of other inmates of Randal Cremer School, worksheet in hand, are the result of her efforts to show that museums can engage the interest of young people.

The refurbishment is of a very high standard.  The external terrace was a pleasant place to sit (my table was roughly in the area formerly occupied by the old outside Gents toilet – I think I detected a whiff, but this was the product of olfactory memory rather than archaeological persistence).  Inside is an open kitchen and tables and the former bar area is a very characterful dining room.  It has been designed and furnished to echo the origins of the building as an early Victorian pub.

The plan is for Molly’s to open in stages.  Soon it will offer high quality evening meals as well as daytime food.  A far cry from the very limited catering on offer in the pub during the Trendall era!  When the museum re-opens next month I expect that the café will become very busy during the day.  It shares the entrance to the Museum opposite Hoxton Station.  In the hour I was there is attracted a lot of interest. 

                                      Fig (3) The terrace occupying the area of the former pub's back yard and                                                               showing the entrance gate in Geffrye Street

The people working there were most welcoming.  The tea was good and I had a first class bacon roll.  All good signs for the future!  I am looking forward to going back soon.

 

Philip Trendall

May 2021

 

(1)    Rightmove (as at 16/05/2021):  https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/106863968#/

(2)    Molly’s: https://www.museumofthehome.org.uk/visit-us/molly-s-cafe/