Bank Of Friendship Mile End

The Bank of Friendship Public House used to stand at 22 Harford Street Mile End in the East End of London. The Pub was on the corner of Ely Terrace (which no longer exists) and Harford Street, opposite Solebay Steet and to the north of Ernest Street. The area is now known as the Ocean Estate and forms part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Looking for the Bank Of Friendship in Highbury ?

The present day namesake of this pub located in Highbury can be found here:

The Bank of Friendship 224 Blackstock Rd, London N5 1EA

My interest in the pub stems from the fact that my Great Grandmother, Theresa Harriet Chipchase, was the last landlady of the pub in 1940. Although she was the landlady she was not the licensee as she had served a 3 day prison sentence for non-payment of rates some time before. The Licensee was her fancy man (late daughter in laws term) "Dodger" Harris (Thomas Henry Harris)

The earliest record of it the I have found to date is from the pub history website where the Landlord is listed as Sam C Jolly in the 1848 Post Office Directory. It is marked on the 1870 Ordinance Survey Map in Bancroft Place before the road was renamed Harford Street. The pub closed sometime during 1940/41 due to sustaining bomb damage during a German air raid. According to the London County Council Bomb Damage Maps many of the surrounding buildings were severely damaged or destroyed, the pub suffering from bomb blast damage.

My Great Grandmother and her daughter Irene were rescued from the bomb damaged building by her eldest son George. She went back to live in Lady Somerset Road, Tufnell Park, only to be bombed again. All the people living in the downstairs flat were killed. George searched for several days before finding her in Highgate Hospital where she died on 9th April, 1941 aged 57. She was laid to rest with her first husband in Highgate Cemetery.

Wanted: Photos or Pictures of The Bank of Friendship

There seem to be very few photographs of the pub before it was destroyed. The Barclay Perkins advertising board on the roof of the building can be seen in a picture of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee procession in 1897. The picture is taken from the front of the People's Palace on Mile End Road looking down Harford Street.It is published in "In living Memory, Photographs of Tower Hamlets" by Stephen Beckett. The only other photograph shows the pub in its derelict state in 1947 prior to the redevelopement of the area into the Ocean Estate. The pub is the building to the extreme left of the picture. The image can be seen here:

London Metropolitan Archives

If anyone has or knows where further pictures of information about this pub can be found please contact the site webmaster at the e-mail below.

There is some history that shows that the pub was used for court hearings, a meeting house for the Freemasons, a music hall venue and for boxing. There was an upstairs function room with a raised viewing platform around the the walls. The pub is listed on the Pub history site www.pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/MileEnd/BankFriendship.shtml)

the webmaster can be contacted at webmaster@bankoffriendship.co.uk

Last Updated 31st March 2020