THE DOVE

THE DOVE - A LITERARY LONDON PUB

Yesterday, Jim and I met at Putney Bridge to stroll along the river Thames to the Dove (Hammersmith). We were fortunate with the weather: 29C in mid-September.

The Dove is a Fuller's?pub with table service, at the moment. We gave our details at the door and passed through the pub, with exposed ceiling beams, to the riverside terrace at the back. After our walk, we asked for and gratefully received a bottle of table water. After that, Jim had London Pride while I was on Frontier. We chatted and watched the Thames flow by.

Graham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, Dylan Thomas and Thomas Traherne all drank here. William Morris lived next door. The Pigeon is the pseudonym given to The Dove in A. P. Herbert’s The Water Gipsies?(1930).

In?Iris Murdoch’s novel Under the Net?(1954), Jake Donaghue visits the Dove to meet a theatrical acquaintance. 'The address I had been given was on that part of the Mall that lies between the Dove and the Black Lion', (p38).

‘Rule, Britannia’ was written in the Dove pub, by Scottish poet and playwright James Thomson. It is usually played annually during at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms. But its inclusion has promoted controversy, concerning alleged historical links with colonialism and slavery.?Proms 2020 had its Rule, Britannia! row

In other history:?it is said Charles II?frequented the pub with his mistress?Nell Gwyn.

The Dove, 19 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, W6 9TA

Wikipedia: The Dove

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