Thanksgiving and The Mayflower … Pub

I lived in London for a very long time, south of the River Thames, in an area known as Rotherhithe and Bermondsey. For a good chunk of that period, my local pub was a dimly lit, homey, welcoming place, with a jetty out onto the river and a dining hall for events upstairs. That watering hole is The Mayflower Pub (est’d, circa 1550). The pub stands next to what became known as “Mayflower Steps,” from which a small jetty would have led out to the mooring where The Mayflower was berthed, before sailing on to Plymouth, England. Then, it carried The Pilgrim Fathers™ to North America in 1619-1620. This is the prologue to the tale taught to generations of American schoolchildren about “The First Thanksgiving.”

Rather than re-write history (*insert-wry-smile-here*), I quote from British Heritage:

For Mayflower chasers, the first stopping off point must be the pub at 117 Rotherhithe Street. One clue to its relevance in the Mayflower story can be seen on its rooftop: a weather vane in the shape of the famous ship. The pub has been called The Mayflower since 1957. Before that, it was the Spread Eagle and Crown, but in 1620 it was The Shippe Inn.

According to the popular myth, Captain Jones tied up the Mayflower alongside the pub to avoid paying mooring taxes. Today, if you walk down the steps to the left of the pub entrance, you emerge onto the foreshore where a jetty would have taken passengers and crewmen on board.

The Mayflower Pub, viewed from the River Thames

The area around Rotherhithe in the 1600s attracted many outspoken Dissenters, who refused to conform to the official line of the Anglican Church. These separatists, who had broken away from the Church of England, would have seen a lot of traffic up and down the river as ships left for foreign climes. Add to this the presence of a famous sea captain within their community and it is hardly surprising that he was approached to take the religious rebels to a place where they might start a new life in the New World.

The Mayflower Pub, apart from its great food and homey atmosphere, has a book on hand for people interested in tracing their family history: both to look at and add to with their genealogical information. The pub has always made a big deal of its historical connections with America, consequently: they always book up quickly for Thanksgiving. But my spouse and I did have a big group Christmas Dinner there once, and that was a comparable experience. In keeping with its historical ties and theme, they have many quotes from famous writers painted on the walls and booths (photos courtesy TripAdvisor):

They boast that they are licensed to sell both British and USA postage stamps, and their website gives some background on this: “Back in the 1800’s, seafarers docking at Rotherhithe with little time to spare were able to order a pint and a postage stamp here at The Mayflower (formerly The Spread Eagle). We are still the only pub licensed to sell US postage stamps - just ask at the bar!” I never had a need to buy a postage stamp there, but at one point, I lived barely five minutes’ walk away. I went there so often for so many years, that I think even the (now-former) proprietors thought of me as their Resident American. I was OK with that – especially with such strong historical ties to the USA, even though they would consistently mix up “Iowa” and “Ohio.” They had a pub trivia quiz every week, on Tuesday evenings. The pub quiz master was named John, and he worked hard to write and ask a good mix of categories of questions: movies & TV, books, sports, general knowledge, history, and music, and of course: there was always a Picture Round. We had a regular team of three or four of us, and we had a friendly rivalry with a team comprised of solicitors and barristers that we called “The Lawyers” (with some mild-to-strong disdain). A prize was offered for The Best Team Name each week – usually a bottle of wine, or a Mayflower t-shirt:

This prize was apart from winning the pot of entry fees, if your team won the quiz. We would endeavor to come up with a good team name, usually humorous, and/or, referencing some current event. One winning example team name was “The Memorial John Paul Jetty” (Getty), who had just died… and yes, this will date it, should you care to look it up! They had some very good pub food, and I and my spouse loved the steak & cheese pie. It was a shortcrust pastry with braised steak in a rich, ale gravy, and huge chunks of melted cheddar. It came with sides of sugar-snap peas, and a mound of mashed potatoes and gravy! Kangaroo meat was also on the menu, then. I think we only tried it once!

Living in a place like London, history is all around you, and it’s very easy to take it all for granted… especially if you grew up in Britain or Europe, and not in a young nation like the USA. I always liked going to the Mayflower and the area’s historical connections, all within 10 minutes’ walk of each other: the world’s first sub-aqueous tunnel built by Marc Brunel, and a museum nearby devoted to him; Hope (Sufferance) Wharf; and (more up my alley): Sands Film Studios. When we moved to the USA, we very deliberately took the world’s only remaining ocean liner, the Queen Mary 2, across the Atlantic. This was partially in honor of the many who had made the arduous journey from Europe for hundreds of years prior, never intending to return home. We were in a great deal more luxury and safety than most of them ever were, but it was sobering to note the sea swell and reflect on merely that one of the huge dangers so many immigrants went through.

When we moved a little further south into Bermondsey, and were no longer a mere five minutes’ walk away, we didn’t go to the Mayflower quite as much, and our pub quiz team members also had drifted on. Back in 2014, we dined with our good friend, actor Simon Fisher-Becker, and his husband, Tony. Here is an unfiltered photo we took of them, sat at their booth, with the bar right behind:

We lost Simon in March this year. This Thanksgiving, we’re glad we shared his life and friendship with us, and give thanks for having known him, as well as all our friends and family. We’re thankful for our own safe passage across the sea a few years ago. And to close, paraphrasing Roger Miller: “if you huff and puff and you finally save enough money up to take your family on a trip across the sea - take a tip before you take your trip… let me tell you where to grub: the Mayflower Pub.”

Happy Thanksgiving, 2025!

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