Global Bar Guide

Address: Commercial Street, Spitalfields, London E1 

Telephone: +44 207 366 1721 

On the corner of Commercial Street and Fournier Street in Spitalfields stands perhaps the most famous pub in Ripper history and one of the most infamous in London.

The Ten Bells Pub has been standing since at least 1752 and it has undergone only one name change to date, when from 1976 to 1988, it was known as "The Jack the Ripper".

Since 1988 it was given its original name of "The Ten Bells".

Although the exterior of the building has been rebuilt, the interior remains much the same as it did since the days of Jack the Ripper. As you enter the Ten Bells, you are indeed stepping back in time to the days of the Autumn of Terror. The back wall of the pub has a beautiful tile picture "Spitalfields in the Olden Time". On the wall opposite the bar is a giant sign listing the victims of Jack the Ripper.

Although it is generally accepted that Jack the Ripper murdered only 5 victims, the large sign shows six, with Martha Tabram being named first. This was based on the theory that the murders were based on black magic. Five mutilated victims were needed for the black magic theory to work. Elizabeth Stride was not mutilated. Her throat was cut. The theorist therefore, had to go back in time to find another victim that was mutilated in order for the theory to work. Since Martha Tabram (aka Turner) was stabbed 39 times, he counted this murder as a mutilation. Thus Martha Tabram now becomes the first victim on the giant Jack the Ripper board at the Ten Bells. The remainder of the wall displays interesting newspaper clippings about Jack the Ripper as well as possible suspects and theories.

Which victims of Jack the Ripper patronized the Ten Bells pub during the Autumn of Terror in 1888? It was widely rumoured that Annie Chapman had been seen in a pub near Spitalfields Market at c.5.00 A.M. on the morning of her murder. The pub was reportedly the Ten Bells, as the pub is directly across from the Spitalfields Market.

Elizabeth Foster told newspaper reporters that she was with Mary Kelly drinking in the Ten Bells during the evening hours on November 8, 1888. Mary Kelly used to stand outside the Ten Bells in order to attract customers. So when you stand outside the entrance to the Ten Bells Pub, you are truly standing in the footsteps of perhaps the most famous of the Ripper's victims, Mary Kelly.