# Ten Bells

* This article is part of a series aboutJack the Ripper
Whitechapel murders
Annie Chapman
Catherine Eddowes
Mary Jane Kelly
Mary Ann Nichols
Elizabeth Stride
Speculated
Emma Elizabeth Smith
Martha Tabram
Thames Torso Murders
Whitehall Mystery
Locations
Buck's Row
Dorset Street
Flower and Dean Street
Hanbury Street
Mitre Square
Ten Bells
Letters and clues
"Dear Boss" letter
"Saucy Jacky" postcard
"From Hell" letter
Openshaw letter
Goulston Street graffito
Investigators
Frederick Abberline
Robert Anderson
Walter Andrews
Thomas Arnold
Walter Dew
George Godley
Melville Macnaghten
Henry Moore
Edmund Reid
Donald Swanson
Charles Warren
Adolphus Williamson
Whitechapel Vigilance Committee
George Lusk
Doctors and coroners
Wynne Edwin Baxter
Thomas Bond
Roderick Macdonald
Thomas Horrocks Openshaw
George Bagster Phillips
Witnesses
George Hutchinson
Joseph Lawende
Charles Allen Lechmere
Israel Schwartz
Suspects
Montague Druitt
Jacob Isenschmid
George Chapman
Aaron Kosminski
Michael Ostrog
John Pizer
James Thomas Sadler
Francis Tumblety
William Henry Bury
Thomas Neill Cream
Thomas Hayne Cutbush
Frederick Bailey Deeming
Carl Feigenbaum
Robert Donston Stephenson
Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale
Joseph Barnett
Willy Clarkson
William Gull
George Hutchinson
James Kelly
Charles Allen Lechmere
Jacob Levy
James Maybrick
Michael Maybrick
Walter Sickert
Joseph Silver
James Kenneth Stephen
Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet, of the City of London
L. Forbes Winslow
Mary Pearcey
Legacy
In fiction
Jack the Ripper Museum :
vte :
The Ten Bells is a public house at the corner of Commercial Street and Fournier Street in Spitalfields in the East End of London. It is sometimes noted for its supposed association with at least two victims of Jack the Ripper: Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly.

## History

The Ten Bells pub has existed in one guise or another since at least the middle of the 18th century. It originally stood on a site known as 12 Red Lion Street, just a few metres away. However, when this building was pulled down as part of the cutting of Commercial Street in 1851, the owners of the Ten Bells (Truman Hanbury Buxton & Co) were able to move the public house to its current position at 84 Commercial Street (at one time known as 33 Church Street).
The name of the pub has changed over time, but those names have generally derived from the number of bells in the "peal" housed in the Nicholas Hawksmoor-designed Christ Church, Spitalfields next door.
In 1755 it was known as the "Eight Bells Alehouse". The name is likely to have changed in 1788 when the church installed a new set of chimes, this time with ten bells; certainly, there are insurance records to show that the pub was registered as "the Ten Bells, Church Street, Spitalfields" from 1794. The number of bells in the church increased to twelve at one point and were subsequently reduced to its current number of eight after a fire in the steeple in 1836. However, save for a brief deviation from the theme (see below), the "Ten Bells" name has stuck.
The interior of the pub is decorated floor to ceiling with original Victorian tiling. Two of the walls feature a blue and white floral pattern tiling scheme and there is a colourful tiled dado going round the room. Of particular note is the mural of painted tiles on the wall on the north side of the building, entitled Spitalfields in ye Olden Time – visiting a Weaver's Shop, which commemorates the weaving heritage of the area. The mural was designed by the firm of W. B. Simpson and Sons and dates from the late 19th century.
The Ten Bells was renovated by landlord John Twomey in December 2010 to fully display the pub's Victorian heritage. The renovation also included the addition of a new mural titled Spitalfields in Modern Times. This was painted by artist Ian Harper. Rather than feature the weavers of the 19th century, the painting features 21st century Spitalfields scenes and characters, such as Gilbert and George.
The building was designated a Grade II listed building in 1973.

## Jack the Ripper

Some accounts of the Jack the Ripper story link two of his victims, Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly, to the pub: Annie Chapman may have drunk at the pub shortly before she was murdered; and it has been suggested that the pavement outside of the pub was where Mary Kelly picked up clients as a prostitute. Between 1976 and 1988, the public house was named "The Jack the Ripper", and memorabilia relating to the case were displayed in the bars. The brewery ordered the change back to its original name after a long campaign by Reclaim the Night demanded that a murderer of women should not be commemorated in such a fashion. The pub is mentioned in the graphic novel From Hell (1999), about Jack the Ripper, by writer Alan Moore and artist Eddie Campbell. The film adaptation From Hell (2001), also features the pub, including a scene showing Johnny Depp (as Inspector Abberline) having a drink with Ripper victim Mary Kelly.

## Current use

In October 2011, the Ten Bells was featured in the Jamie Oliver series Jamie's Great Britain. Oliver's great-great-grandfather was a landlord of the pub during the 1880s. Oliver is shown visiting the Ten Bells to discuss his East London roots, and to see how Londoners lived, drank and ate at the end of the 19th century.