City pub celebrates
400th anniversary This year the Old Doctor Butler’s Head celebrates four centuries of providing the City of London with fine food, drink and hospitality. The pub was established in 1610 but had to be rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666 and that is the structure we see today. It is the sole survivor of a number of taverns that displayed Dr Butler’s head on their signs because they dispensed his medicinal ale for curing gastric ailments. Dr Butler was a ‘specialist’ in nervous disorders, who, despite his lack of qualifications, was appointed Court Physician to James I. His bizarre “cures” included dropping the nervous through a trapdoor in London Bridge, firing a brace of pistols next to unsuspecting patients to treat epilepsy, and plunging plague victims into cold water.
A less stressful greeting awaits visitors to today’s bar, Chop House restaurant and function room which offer a good choice of traditional English food and drink in a relaxed friendly atmosphere. The pub, which overlooks one of the City’s ancient pedestrian alleys, serves a selection of up to five traditional Kentish cask ales as well as distinctive international lagers and a good range of wines by the glass. The pub has Sky TV with several screens showing most sports and a gallery of vintage Spitfire advertisements, showing the best of the ale’s tongue-incheek humour. The Old Doctor Butler’s Head features in a number of food, drink and London tourist guides and is a short walk from the Guildhall, the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange.
Sportsman hosts commemoration of last battle on English soil More than 100 people gathered at The Sportsman in Seasalter to mark the last battle fought on the British mainland. The gathering of former and current members of the London Irish Rifles was joined by army and air force cadets, wartime hero and Colditz survivor Major General Corran Purdon and the Lord Mayor of Canterbury, Pat Todd, for a parade and ceremony. Licensee Phil Harris accepted a plaque which commemorates what has become known as The Battle of Graveney Marsh.
It was September 27, 1940 when members of the London Irish Rifles fought a short battle with the crew of a downed German bomber close to the pub, where they would eventually take their foe for a pint after capturing them with no loss of life on either side. The event – which saw one British soldier throw an explosive charge from the plane, meaning it was retrieved intact – was organised by Dickie Bird of the Royal British Legion and the London Irish Rifles Association.
L-R. Lord Mayor of Canterbury Pat Todd, Major General Corran Purdon, Phil Harris, Major Peter Lough
London Irish Rifles
Nigel Wilkinson, the association’s vice-chairman, said: “For a long time I thought to myself that this is really quite an historic event. It was the last action fought on British soil against invaders.”