4
The late Mr. Ashby Sterry, in an article on "Dickens in Southwark" published in The English Illustrated Magazine in November, 1888, a year before a portion of the inn was demolished, describes it as "the most thoroughly Dickensian hostelry from cellar to roof-tree that you could now find in London, and probably the last of the old galleried inns now standing in the Metropolis." He goes on to say:—
The George is one of the last of the old Borough Inns, and preserves its ancient characteristics more than any yet remaining … Seventy years ago—ay, and after Pickwick was published in 1836—"The George" must have been a busy place enough. In the days when Mine Host Scholefield looked after matters, business must have been brisk indeed.An old time-worn, yellow card informs us that:—
W.S. begs to return his sincere thanks to his Friends and the Public in general for their past favours, and to acquaint them that he has neither spared pains nor expense in the improvement of the above Inn for their accommodation; he also takes this opportunity of soliciting their future encouragement, trusting they'll find Beds, Wines, Spirits, Stabling to their perfect satisfaction.In those days "W.S" must have had his hands full, for there were well nigh eighty coaches and a dozen waggons leaving the Inn every week, and, of course, the same number entering.
Hence you might go to Maidstone, Folkestone, Tenterden, Wateringbury, Brenchley, Deal, Dover, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury, Orpington, Hastings, Tunbridge, Brighton, Dorking, and countless other places. You will be surprised at the vast extent of the place and the accommodation in the way of stabling if you venture to take a trip down the yard. One of the carriers formerly starting from this Inn was named Cross Weller. Possibly Dickens might have noted the fact during one of his visits, and evolved therefrom the surname of the immortal Sam.
It is quite like reading a chapter of Dickens to wander about the old-fashioned place, which still retains the
