I’ve trawled to see what old photos I’ve taken of Baxter’s Court, a JD Wetherspoon pub that they’re closing this week. The venue notes about its history:
“This pub stands, more or less, on the site of an old alleyway, known as Baxter’s Court, which dates from at least 1700. Jerusalem Square also dated from this time, but both were swept away when Valetta Street (once Jerusalem Passage) was developed.”
They add:
“This Wetherspoon pub takes its name from a “lost alley” approximately on this site. Sir Thomas Marsh’s White House, also stood here until it was pulled down around 1869. In the late 17th century, Marsh used his house as an academy for training nonconformist ministers.
The bank next door occupies the former site of the Hackney Pavilion, an ornate 1100-seater cinema built in 1914. Defeated by television, it closed in 1973.
The building immediately to the south was at one time used by the Salvation Army, whilst next to that is the former Methodist Central Hall, opened in 1925.
Hackney’s first council housing was built in 1902 in Valette Street, which runs behind this pub. Valette Buildings, dating from 1905, stands on the site of the former Jerusalem Square, a development dating from around 1700.”
The chain has been making a large investment in more substantially sized pubs, including some new openings at railway stations in London.
The chicken bites basket with Mexican rice that I acquired here in 2022. I can’t remember what it was like, but I’m sure it was entirely adequate.
This is the Session IPA from Three Sods Brewery, a local set-up which closed in August 2022, a few weeks after I purchased this beer. I say purchased, it was given to me by the pub as they had started to pour it and realised I had ordered on the app the BoHo Bitter from the same brewery. I liked this arrangement.
Deep in my digital archive, here’s a little throw back from the pub from 2012. Coffee back then was served by the staff, this was before the self-service unlimited hot drinks arrangement which I very much like. As I like things such as this, I had a look at how much this costs today in the pub:
Eggs Benedict – £5.29
Regular Cappuccino – £1.81
Large Pepsi – £2.05
So, a total of £9.15, which isn’t too much of an increase from the £6.24 of 13 years ago, especially as the coffees are now unlimited. Anyway, I digress, so I thought I’d have a quick look at the reviews of the venue and they’re quite low for the chain.
“Very bad … They Refused to serve me because I had a dog.. Dogs are not allowed which is okay But… Why I couldn’t Even drink my beer Outside? It doesn’t make sense at all!!!”
The obligatory complaint from a dog owner and the policy makes sense to me, they don’t want dogs in or out of the pub.
“I really struggle to give it 1 star. I went in there on Saturday 11/12/21 and manager tried to fiddle me. She overcharged me for a mixer for a whisky (I didn’t want or have) and when challenged asked me if I supported ‘Black lives Matter’… When I replied ‘no’ was told I was barred…. Watch out for her guys…. Still have receipt with date and time on!!!”
Without doubting the story, there must have been more to this exchange than just this.
“Horrible table service.. I ordered two glasses of wine at 5:00 pm it came to my table at 5:20 pm. I give them a negative 10”
This is the entirety of the review because two drinks took twenty minutes to arrive at the table….
“Absolutely disgusted just been in and ordered a pizza and asked for no chilli peppers as I’m allergic to them, sent the pizza back as they still came out with them on, new pizza arrived they just took them off and missed a few, staff didn’t care either when I took it back even when I explained I was allergic to them”
This is a bit sub-optimal….
“This establishment refused to accept a Clydesdale bank £5 note.”
They don’t have to….
“No John Smith what’s going wrong with this pub”
No wonder the place is closing if they couldn’t get that right….
Below is the sales document, it seems that the building has been acquired for over £2 million.
The pub has been trading as a JD Wetherspoon venue for around 25 years, I suspect that it’ll be missed by the local community, however many faults it might have had.