The Blind Beggar Montfort. The pub was built in 1894 on the site of an inn which had been established before 1654, and named after the legend of Henry de Montfort, a son of Simon de Montfort. In 1865, William Booth preached his first open-air sermon outside the Blind Beggar, which led to the establishment of the East London Christian Mission, later to become the Salvation Army. William Booth is commemorated by a nearby statue. The Blind Beggar is notorious for its connection to East End gangsters the Kray twins. On 9 March 1966, Ronnie Kray shot and murdered George Cornell, an associate
The Hobbit (pub) in 2009, operating from a shed in the pub's garden. On 13 March 2012 it was reported that Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) which oversees copyright issues surrounding Tolkien's works on Middle earth, had accused the pub of copyright infringement over the use of the Hobbit name. The move was strongly criticised by actors Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen, both of whom were to appear in the Hobbit film series, and by John Denham, Member of Parliament for Southampton Itchen. A Facebook campaign to save The Hobbit was launched, and by 16 March 2012 had