Review

Rotherhithe ship-owner Christopher Jones moored his ship outside this pub in 1620, when the pub was called the Shippe, in order to embark his passengers from the pub's jetty. Over three months later his human cargo disembarked at a place they christened Plymouth, New England; the passengers were the Puritan Pilgrim Fathers, the ship was The Mayflower and the colony they founded is now known as the United States of America.

One can only speculate whether the Pilgrim Fathers had a few swift beers in the Shippe before embarking on The Mayflower, as that would confirm the oft-mooted statement of whether 'The people who founded America must have been pissed!' On a less flippant note it's worth considering what the World would be like today had The Mayflower floundered en-route.

The Shippe was licenced to act as a 'post office' for the ships on the river; The Mayflower is still entitled to sell stamps, both British and US, and is one of a handful of pubs licenced to do so. The Shippe was rebuilt in the 18th Century and renamed The Spread Eagle & Crown, a name it retained until 1957 when it became The Mayflower. Had the pub remained The Spread Eagle & Crown it would have been the butt of many jokes - to 'spread eagle a crown' is laden with sexual innuendo - but there are no cheap, inane gags about (de)flowering people in May!

The Mayflower pub is tiny, with a small room at the front and a slightly larger room in which the bar is situated; there is hardly room for the Pharaoh's Treasure machine. There is a beer garden over the river that feels more like a jetty, and it's home to a handful of tables and chairs, underneath which the lapping river can be seen through gaps in the planking. A telling feature of the pub's age is the bulky lock on the door to the 'beer garden', to prevent flooding in exceptionally high tides.

This is a Greene King pub that has, thankfully, seen little in the way of modernisation, and the beamed ceiling, tiny toilets and fireplace are all original features. Sitting atop the bar is an old, dusty model of a galleon (or is it The Mayflower), which, together with the lanterns and ship's block strung across the ceiling, is the only evident concession towards a nautical theme. On the wall are framed documents of great antiquity, and the omnipresent, inane quotes usually found in pubs are painted on the backs of the benches in the pub's many cosy snugs, with Rudyard Kipling being one of the eminent authors whose prose gets ignored by drinkers.

Drinks are cheap in The Mayflower and the blackboards, which in other pubs will display drink offers and the day's food, are empty. There is a restaurant upstairs that presumably caters for the continual stream of tourists, mostly Americans here to experience their heritage. The presence of tourists ensures The Mayflower has no women deficit.

After returning from the fledgling colony of America The Mayflower was once again moored outside the Shippe, where it was left to rot; it's captain, Christopher Jones, is buried in the churchyard next to the pub.

Review by mr_psm