The Calthorpe Arms in Greys Inn Road (early morning, when I decided to walk to the office). Very traditional old-fashioned pub. If it had been open I would have had a quick drink to set me up for the day.
The upstairs room is now a dining room (hardly used) but in 1833 it was used to hold the inquest into the death of PC Robert Culley, the first policeman to be killed in London. PC Culley was stabbed while breaking up the Cold Bath Fields riot which had been organized by the National Union of Working Classes. The police use of force was very controversial, and a later jury refused to convict the knife-wielder.
Clerkenwell was formerly a centre of radical politics (Lenin is supposed to have met Stalin at a nearby pub) but today it is mostly inhabited by professional types. Over the last hundred and fifty years the British government has encouraged radical and dissident groups to set up base in London, even those revolutionaries who pursue an anti-British agenda. Contrary to popular opinion, this has got nothing to do with liberal asylum policies but is intended to subvert and manipulate political groups that may later be useful in foreign policy.
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