The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-29 00:00:00

BETTING IN BRIDE-LANE, FLEET-

STREET.

A deputation from the parish of St. Bride waited
upon the Lord Mayor, at the Mansion House, to
call his attention to the annoyances and inconveni-
ences to which the inhabitants of Bride-lane, with
some portions of Bridge.street and Fleet-street, are
exposed in consequence of the congregation there
of crowds of men for betting purposes. The deputa-
tion consisted of the Rev. C. Marshall, Mr. Church-
warden Dodd, Mr. R. F. Dale, Mr. Jewell, Mr.
James, Mr. Blundon, Mr. H. Attwood Smith
(vestry clerk), and Mr. Deputy Obbard.
Mr. SMITH, in introducing the subject to his
lordship, said—We are come, my lord, as a deputa-
tion from the parish of St. Bride to call you atten-
tion to the very serious inconvenience to which the
inhabitants of Bride-lane, that part of Fleet-street
being between Bride-lane and Bridge-street, and
a portion of Bridge-street itself, are exposed
from the daily congregation there of crowds of
men, who, from the books which they carry in
their hands and the tone of their conversation,
no doubt assemble there for the purpose of gambilng
and betting. You are, of course, aware, my
lord, that an act was recently passed to pro.
hibit gambling and betting in public houses and
other buildings, but the practice has now assumed
another character, for these men carry on their
operations in the open air. They have for a long
while selected more particularly Bride•lane and
Bride-court, where they assemble in such numbers
that the tradesmen living there suffer most seriously
in their trade, since their customers are frequently
afraid to pass through such a crowd. The evil has
now reached to such a height that we are now
here as a deputation from the parish to ask your
lordship whether there is any law which will meet
the case, and if so, whether your lordship will un-
dertake to put that law into operation ?
The LORD MAYOR—If you will show me such a
law I shall be obliged to you.
Mr. SMITH—We understand it is contrary to the
law to obstruct a public thoroughfare.
The LORD MAYOR—But you immediately see the
difficulty of applying the law of obstruction to such
a complaint. Here is a man simply standing on the
pavement, or on the roadway. How can you in-
terfere with him ?

Mr. SMITH—We feel the full difficulty of the
case ; for we admit that the liberty of the subject
is a matter not lightly to be touched. But we sub-
mit to you that this obstruction is caused wilfully,
and for an improper purpose.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I shall be very glad
if you will show me a law to deal with the
subject. I shall most willingly put it into ope-
ration. I believe the attention of the Police
Commissioner, as well as of the magistrates,
has been already called to this nuisance ; but it is
better for you and a deputation from the parish to
wait upon the magistrates. Bride-lane, however,
is out of my jurisdiction ; it belongs •to the Guild-
hall district.

Mr. GOODMAN (chief clerk.)—There was once a
very wholesome law, that any person who shall
hinder or obstruct the footway should be liable to
a penalty of £5, but that law was repealed in 1849.
The LORD MAYOR.—I think the best way will
be for the inhabitants to request these men to move
off, and then, if they refuse to do so, we will'see if
steps can be taken to compel them. I had heard
of this nuisance, and one day, when passing, I went
through Bride-lane, and what I saw then was quite
enough to convince me that the business of the
tradesmen there must be seriously affected by it,
Mr. Deputy OBBARD.—I asked a policeman one
day how many men he thought were collected
there, and he said 250, and you may judge of the
inconvenience arising from so many people being
collected in so confined a thoroughfare. Here are
two gentlemen who live at the corner of Bride-lane,
and who have a good many country customers ; and
the other day a customer went to one of their shops
and said he should come no more, for he was afraid
to pass through the crowd, and always had to but-
ton up his pockets. Ido not know whether there
was really any occasion for him to button up his
pockets.
The LORD MAYOR.—No ; but he thought there
was.

The Rev. Mr. MARSHALL—Yourlordship will be
better able to form an opinion as to the extent of
the nuisance when I tell you that the place is often
quite as full as this court is now. You can only
get through by pushing, as when in a crowd.
The LORD MAYOR—By the operation of the law,
these persons have bean driven out of the public-
houses and other places, and now they take to the
streets.

Mr. SMITH—Is it too much to ask your lordship
to take the opinion of the City law officers on the
subject

The LORD MAYOR—I will give the case my best
consideration, and if the nuisance can be put down,
it shall be.

A DEPUTY--We are often taken away from our
business, my Lord, to ask these men if they
will move on. Sometimes they do so, to
come back again directly ; but at other times
they load us with abuse, if they see that there is no
policeman near. It would be a serious inconvenience
to us, even if they were all gentlemen ; but when
you take into consideration that they are a mixture
of the lowest of the low, your lordship will see
how very serious is the inconvenience, to say the
least of it, to which we are exposed.
The LORD MAYOR—WeII, I again promise you
that I will take the whole matter into my most
serious consideration, and that if anything can be
done it shall be.

The deputation then thanked his lordship and
retired,