The Lord Nelson Public House in Whitechapel: c.1900

Preston Starkey ran the Lord Nelson public house at 299 Whitechapel Road in the East End. A sign on the gates reads 'now closed'. Between 1872 and 1914 public houses opened on weekdays from 5 or 6am until 12.30am. There were around 7,800 pubs in the county in 1900. Pressure from social reformers, who believed that alcohol was the main cause of poverty, made it harder for publicans to obtain licences, and eventually succeeded in reducing drinking hours. By 1908 the number of pubs had fallen to 6,700.
John Galt, a missionary with the London City Mission and an amateur photographer produced this and other photographs to show the conditions in the East End and the work of the mission in the area.