John Snow (public house)

The John Snow, formerly the Newcastle-upon-Tyne, is a public house in Broadwick Street, in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. It is named for the British epidemiologist John Snow, who identified the nearby water pump as the source of a cholera outbreak in 1854.

John Snow pub (2023)
General information
LocationSoho, City of Westminster, part of the West End of London
Address39 Broadwick Street
Town or cityLondon
CountryUnited Kingdom
Opened1870s
Known forNamed for John Snow

The pub serves as a meeting place for the John Snow Society, which requires visiting the pub for membership, introduced a walk following the footsteps of Snow through Soho and ending at the pub, and performs a ceremonial removal of the pump handle and visit to the pub following its annual Pumphandle Lecture.

Location

The John Snow is located on the corner of Lexington Street (formerly Cambridge Street) and Broadwick Street (formerly Broad Street) in the Soho district of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London.[1][2]

History

The building was formerly known as the 'Newcastle-upon-Tyne' and dates back to the 1870s.[2] It was built at the site of the water pump found by John Snow to have been the origin of a local cholera outbreak in 1854.[3] The pub was renamed the John Snow in 1954, 100-years after the pump handle was removed.[3] This dedication to Snow is generally thought of as peculiar as Snow was shy and never drank alcohol.[4][5] The pub sign was unveiled in May 1955 by president of the epidemiology section of the Royal Society of Medicine, Sir Austin Bradford Hill.[6] A handleless replica water pump was installed nearby in 1992.[3]

  • Old replica pump
    Old replica pump
  • Pump erected in 1992
    Pump erected in 1992

Interior

On entering the building, it appears like other traditional pubs.[6] Towards the back is a staircase.[6] The first floor displays some of Snow's work.[7] One wall displays Snow's work and another wall his portrait.[6]

Exterior

The Royal Society of Chemistry established a blue plaque on the wall of the building.[2] The 1992 replica pump was removed in 2015 for road restorations and replaced by another one in 2018 at the original pump location.[3][5] The pub sign outside depicts a portrait of Snow.[7] The original site of the pump is represented by a pink curb stone outside the pub's side door.[6]

  • Sign outside on Broadwick Street wall
    Sign outside on Broadwick Street wall
  • Blue plaque on Broadwick Street wall
    Blue plaque on Broadwick Street wall
  • Exterior on Lexington Street
    Exterior on Lexington Street
  • Pump erected in 2018
    Pump erected in 2018

John Snow Society and Pumhandle Lecture
Main article: John Snow Society

The pub serves as a meeting place for the John Snow Society's (JSS) annual general meeting.[3][8] A requirement for membership to the society is that on visiting London, at least one trip must be made to the pub.[5] The society introduced a walk following the footsteps of Snow through Soho and ending at the pub.[9] The society's Pumphandle Lecture is held annually at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in September.[10] Its speakers have included Atul Gawande, Richard Horton, Jeremy Farrar, and Joanne Liu, and the talks are followed by a ceremonial removal of the pump handle and visit to the pub.[11][12]

Other events

A kiss-in protest was held at the pub after two men on a date were asked to leave in 2011.[13][14]

References
  1. Friis, Robert H.; Sellers, Thomas A. (2009). "1. History and scope of epidemiology". Epidemiology for Public Health Practice (4th ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. pp. 34–35. ISBN 978-0-7637-5161-6.
  2. "John Snow and the Soho Cholera Outbreak of 1854". A London Inheritance. 18 October 2020. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
  3. Dazeley, Peter; Daly, Mark (2021). "Westminster and West End". London Explored: Secret, Surprising and Unusual Places to Discover in the Capital. Frances Lincoln. pp. 18–19. ISBN 978-0-7112-4035-3.
  4. Lax, Alistair J. (2005). "2. The germ of an idea: a gradual acceleration up to the mid-1850s". Toxin: The cunning of bacterial poisons. Oxford University Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-19-157850-2.
  5. Snowise, Neil G (February 2023). "Memorials to John Snow – Pioneer in anaesthesia and epidemiology". Journal of Medical Biography. 31 (1): 47–50. doi:10.1177/09677720211013807. ISSN 0967-7720.
  6. "John Snow Pub". www.ph.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 22 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023.
  7. Gilmour, Tony (2008). "5. The importance of organisational structure in building a sustainable non-profit housing sector". In Gilmour, Tony; Blakely, Edward James; Pizarro, Rafael E. (eds.). Dialogues in Urban Planning: Towards Sustainable Regions. Sydney University Press. p. 165. ISBN 978-1-920899-12-7.
  8. Kuh, Diana (September 2004). ""The Pump Don't Work, 'cause the Vandals Took the Handles."1". Epidemiology. 15 (5): 517. doi:10.1097/01.ede.0000135913.25938.48. ISSN 1044-3983.
  9. Snow, Stephanie J (July 2008). "John Snow: the making of a hero?". The Lancet. 372 (9632): 22–23. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(08)60978-2. PMID 18613323.
  10. Dalton, Harry (2019). "28. Heroes". The Hepatitis E Virus: Pigs Might Fly. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-5275-3044-7.
  11. "Pumphandle lectures Archives". The John Snow Society. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  12. Horton, Richard (February 2022). "Offline: A lie at the heart of public health". The Lancet. 399 (10326): 704. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(22)00312-9.
  13. Brophy, Sarah; Husain, Kasim (2015). "6. Innovations in queer writing". In James, David (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to British Fiction, 1945-2010. Cambridge University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-1-107-04023-6.
  14. York, Jillian C. (2021). "6. Twenty-first century Victorians". Silicon Values: The Future of Free Speech Under Surveillance Capitalism. London: Verso Books. p. 130. ISBN 978-1-78873-882-8.

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