CityPubs

The Crosse Keys Today

The Crosse Keys is in my top five pubs to visit in the City of London, and that isn't because it's a Wetherspoons — far from it. Formerly the headquarters of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank, this impressive building has been repurposed, and the pub now occupies what was the main banking floor. There is plentiful seating all around the main floor as you make your way to the oval-shaped bar. Once there, you will find all the favourites as well as a superb selection of guest ales. The pub is Cask Marque accredited, so the quality of the beer is outstanding.

You cannot fail to enjoy the prestigious surroundings, created by the architect W. Campbell Jones and built in 1912–13 to the highest standards, impressing upon the long-standing City institutions that the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank was here to stay. Because of its size, you can always find somewhere to enjoy the food — I can recommend the mixed grill, all washed down with a few pints of the guest ale Mole Catcher, if it's available.

There is, of course, one problem with The Crosse Keys: the size means it can be very busy indeed, and being mostly stone, the sound levels can be high. On a Friday, you can stand three deep at the bar, waiting five minutes or more to be served, as staff simply can't work on a "first come, first served" basis with numbers like that. But brilliantly, Wetherspoons have introduced an app — you simply find a table and order directly to it. Don't be disappointed though: visit early in the week on a quiet day and enjoy the backrooms, or even upstairs!

Oh, just to add — the beer prices are by far the cheapest in the City, and the range is extensive for both real ale and other beers, lagers and wines. The food is also fantastic value, and the menu caters for all tastes. I can't fault The Crosse Keys in any way, for historical interest and value for money alike.

The Crosse Keys Past

Extract from The China Mail – December 31, 1895 - his is an interesting historical piece about the founding of HSBC

Sir Thomas Sutherland

Aberdeen has sent many distinguished men to the South, but none whose career brings out in bolder relief the characteristics of the race, than Sir Thomas Sutherland, the great Peninsular and Oriental Shipping Company, Thomas Sutherland came Sound to fill a junior clarkship in the Company’s head-office forty-two years ago. He was then a youth of eighteen, with a good education and clear head to help him, but nothing more. He had wearied of the narrow limits of an Aberdeen office and longed for the wider field of London. After two years of clerking, he got a chance to go out to the Bombay office of the Company, and so well did he do his work there that within six years he had become the chief agent of the P. and O. in China and Japan, with his headquarters at Hongkong. Sutherland soon became one of the foremost members of the British community in the place. He helped to found a Dock Company, and was the chief instrument in establishing the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank. The story of how he did this is one of the romance of banking. When Mr Sutherland had been four years at Hong Kong, his Bombay correspondent wire him at the Royal Bank of China had been started by some local speculators, who had allotted the whole of the share to themselves, and then advance them to a strong premium.

The representatives of the bank might arrive at any moment to start business and sweep in all the profits of China. Mr Sutherland at once decided to checkmate the expected financer. He completed the prospectus of the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank at a sitting, secured the help of the leading merchants, and when the gentleman from Bombay did arrive, he found the field occupied. This is but one of many examples of the prompt energy with which the young Scotchman stored the citadel of success in every department of his business life. In 1866 he was called back to the head office in London to fill a position of high importance. He soon had a rare change of showing his managerial mettle. The fall in freights that followed the opening of the Suez Canal swept away the profits of the Company. Mr Sutherland reconstructed the entire system. Before the Ex-junior clerk was forty years of age, he became a director of one of the greatest shipping companies in the world. In 1880 he was elected Chairman, and received a magnificently substantial proof of the gratitude of the shareholders. Honours have fallen thick since then on the old Aberdeen boy. A seat in Parliament, knighthood, and splendid town house in Cromwell Road, and a lovely country retreat near Haslemere, have been among his reward. Sir Thomas Sutherland did not marry until late in life. He is a husband of only fourteen years standing.

The name Gracechurch as in Gracechurch Street where you find The Crosse Keys has nothing to do with ‘grace’. It derives from grass and an ancient corn market and possibly for hay and greens. The church comes from St Benet Gracechurch according to Harben. Stow says the church was named of the Herbe market there, but evidence of an herb-market is unsure. The church may have stood in a grassy plot, or its roof was may have been made of turves.

The building that now sits on Gracechurch Street between Bell Inn Yard at the south end and Corbet Court to the northern was designed by W. Campbell-Jones 1912-13. Floor panels on the second floor were originally inscribed in Chinese.

The building is sectioned into three distinct uses, the southern section following Bell Inn Yard is a Gaucho Restaurant, the centre and upper floor is The Crosse Keys Pub and to the North and upper floors are the Club Quarters Hotel. The whole building is owned by Gracechurch General Partner Ltd.

Nearby Notables

Less than a stones throw accross the road from The Crosse Keys is Leadenhall, well worth a walk through.

Please don't miss the chance of an unusual walk through the City which The Crosse Keys building offers. You can enjoy the narrow alleys which would have been the most of the City prior to the Great Fire. Walk past The Crosse Keys entrance, just a little to the north you will come to Corbet Court, take this, and follow it around until you are at the back of The Crosse Keys, there is a small rear door there, usually open until 11pm, you could enter that way, or keep moving past until you cirle back through Bell Inn Yard. A delightful walk which take you past little used ways.