Eight Bells, Fulham

The Eight Bells, Fulham

The Eight Bells is a pub in Fulham High Street, close to the northern end of Putney Bridge.

The Eight Bells was the site of an early dog show, with a toy spaniel show in 1851.^[1]

In 1886, the original wooden Fulham Bridge was replaced by Putney Bridge to the west, and the Eight Bells received compensation for the loss of trade, as that end of Fulham High Street now became a quiet cul-de-sac.^[2]

From 1886 to 1888, Fulham Football Club used the pub as a changing room, as they played at the nearby Ranelagh House until that site was used for housing.^[3][4]

In 1986, Kenneth Erskine, the Hammersmith-born serial killer known as the Stockwell Strangler, raped and strangled his final victim, Florence Tisdall, an 83-year-old widow around the corner in Ranelagh Gardens Mansions, but any cries for help would have been drowned out by a disco at the Eight Bells to celebrate the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson.^[5]

References

1. Hannah Velten (15 August 2013). Beastly London: A History of Animals in the City. Reaktion Books. p. 202. ISBN 978-1-78023-217-1. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
2. John Richardson (2000). The Annals of London: A Year-by-year Record of a Thousand Years of History. University of California Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-520-22795-8. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
3. Suggs (17 September 2009). Suggs and the City: Journeys through Disappearing London. Headline. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-7553-1927-5. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
4. Alex White (31 August 2012). The Fulham FC Miscellany. History Press. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7524-9057-1. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
5. Kate Kray (31 July 2007). The World's Twenty Worst Crimes - True Stories of 10 Killers and Their 3000 Victims. John Blake Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 978-1-78418-436-0. Retrieved 19 February 2016.