George Tavern Public House

George Tavern Public House

A public house with accommodation above, located at the corner of Commercial Road and Jubilee Street. The building was constructed in the early 19th century, approximately between 1799 and 1819, on the site of an earlier public house called the Halfway House, believed to date from the mid-17th century. The present building was remodelled in 1862, probably by James Harrison, and the ground-floor pub interior was further remodelled in 1891 by RA Lewcock.

The structure is a 3-storey corner building with a 2-storey range continuing along Aylward Street. The principal elevations face Jubilee Street to the west and Commercial Road to the south. The exterior is of painted brick with stucco dressings, featuring a modillion cornice beneath a balustraded parapet in front of a mansard roof.

The pub front is distinguished by a continuous arcade of round-headed arches separated by panelled pilasters. The west elevation has 3 bays and the east elevation has 4 bays, the last of which features a broader elliptical arch. The arches are decorated with floral motifs in bas relief, keystones, and cast-iron openwork spandrels, with a bracketed cornice above the ground floor. The first-floor windows have moulded architraves and bracketed pediments, while the second-floor windows have architraves and keystones. A string course marks the sill height at the second floor. The Aylward Street return is plainer in detailing, with a rendered ground floor and rebuilt brickwork above.

The ground-floor pub interior has been opened up with a modern bar in traditional style. Cast-iron columns with foliated capitals support the space. The east wall contains a fine series of tiled panels from the 1891 remodelling, including a painted scene titled 'Ye George Tavern in Ye Olden Times 1654', depicting the earlier Halfway House, as well as classical scenes with putti and Art Nouveau-style framing. The cellar features a brick-lined passage with a shallow barrel-vaulted ceiling and slate shelves in side niches.

Features likely to survive from the early 19th century building include a well stair with slender turned newels (balusters replaced), first-floor doors with panelled linings and fluted architraves with lion masks at the corners, uncovered patches of early 19th century neo-classical wallpaper to the first-floor landing, three marble Victorian fireplaces, and panelled window shutters.

The George Tavern forms part of the development of Commercial Road, created following the Commercial Road Act of 1802 to link the newly-built East and West India Docks to the City boundary. The building appears on William Faden's Fourth Edition of Horwood's Plan of 1819 and on Greenwood's map of 1827. Number 2a Aylward Street, also listed as part of this entry, was built around the same time as the George pub, possibly as a service accommodation such as stables. It contains parish boundary stones dated 1884 and 1843 that indicated the boundary relative to the George. The site history suggests continuous use as an inn possibly since the 17th century, though the earliest identifiable structure, the Halfway House, was rebuilt in the 18th century after 1745, approximately 50 metres to the north-east of its original location.