HISTORIC TAVERN

Evening Star, Issue 22457, 30 September 1936, Page 10

HISTORIC TAVERN

THE “ DOCTOR'S OWN " The “Doctor’s Own” is not a medical regiment. It is a tavern, and there is mourning in the precincts of Guy’s Hospital over the tragic news that it is to be demolished in the not far distant future (reports the London correspondent of the ‘ Sydney Morning Herald’). For the Ship and Shovel—that is the piquant name of the ancient hostelry—has by tradition been regarded as the surgeons’ solace, as well as a popular meeting place for medical students. You won’t hear racing tips there; you won’t hear the latest story concerning the commercial traveller; and you won’t hear social gossip. What you will hear, from opening time till closing time, is a feverish discussion of symptoms and complications, mellowed by ah occasional description of a successful operation (even if the patient has died). Tucked away in an alley behind the hospital, the Ship and Shovel is so exceedingly ancient that it did not always have a medical history. _ Like every-inn near the river side, it was once the haunt of smugglers and pirates, but fortunately its sea customers were not invariably disreputable, Old documents allude to it as the Ship and Sir Cloudesley Shovel, and Sir Cloudesley Shovel, as most of ns do not know, was a famous admiral. He, good man, relishing the ale, became a regular patron, as is proved by the brass plate in the bar bearing his name. He even had his own private tap leading to cellars, for ho was a very fussy man about his beer, though in that respect not by any means unique. But now, after the passage of centuries, a clearance scheme is scheduled to end the romantic story of the “ Doctors’ Own.” The ground lease will shortly fall in, and so, presumably, will the walls.