(13 × 934) D. 12-1896.
9. Interior of Taproom, George Inn, 1886 (Black and white).
The George Inn, or what is left of it, stands between the sites of the Tabard and the White Hart. It seems to have come into existence in the early part of the sixteenth century, and is mentioned by the name of "St. George" in 1554;
"St. George that swinged the Dragon,
And sits on horseback at mine hostess' door."
The owner in 1558 was Humfrey Colet or Collet, who had been member of Parliament for Southwark. In 1634 a return was made that the inn had been built of brick and timber (no doubt rebuilt) in 1622. Soon after the middle of that century, in a book called Musarum Deliciæ or the Muses' Recreation, compiled by Sir John Mennes (admiral and chief comptroller of the navy), and Dr. James Smith, appeared some lines "upon a surfeit caught by drinking bad sack at the George Tavern in Southwark." Perhaps the landlord mended his ways; in any case the rent was shortly afterwards £150 a year, a large sum for those days. Two seventeenth-century trade tokens of the house exist; an illustration of one is given, which reads thus:—
O.—ANTHONY BLAKE. TAPSTER. YE. GEORGE. INN. SOUTHWARKE
R.—(No legend.) Three tobacco-pipes and four pots.
In 1670, Mark Wayland and Mary his wife, held the George at a rent of £150 a year. It was then partly burnt down, and Wayland rebuilt it. In consequence, his rent was reduced to £80, and a sugar-loaf. In the Great Southwark Fire of 1676, the house was totally destroyed, and was again rebuilt by the tenant, a further reduction of the rent and an extension of the lease being granted. The present structure dates from this rebuilding. It was a great coaching and carriers' inn; only a fragment, but a picturesque one, now exists, the rest having been pulled down in 1889-90. The yard is used for the purposes of the Great Northern, the Great Central, and the Great Eastern Railway Companies.