Landlord of one of London's oldest pubs turns 'rundown and little used' site into one of city's best

A Holborn pub landlord has been awarded for 25 years at the helm of The Ship Tavern - a historic pub nearly five centuries old. The Ship is one of the oldest boozers in London and this year is celebrating its 475th anniversary, making the award to landlord Ross Evans doubly special.

Ross – whose family has run pubs in the West End since the 1920s – was presented with the ‘Dedication Award’ by Star Pubs, owners of The Ship Tavern, saluting his commitment to the pub and its community. He took over The Ship Tavernin 1999 and at the time it was rundown and little used.

Over the last quarter of a century, Ross and his family have lovingly transformed it into a top-quality traditional London pub that is a favourite of locals, students, workers, and tourists from around the globe. Ross said: “Having grown up in pubs, I always wanted one of my own. It’s in my blood, like osmosis. I feel very lucky we found The Ship Tavern all those years ago.

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"I still love running it as much as I did back then. Independently run traditional London pubs are part of the capital’s heritage and need to be cherished to preserve their legacy. I see myself as The Ship Tavern’s custodian; my ambition is to keep it thriving so that I can pass it on one day for future generations to enjoy.”

The Ship Tavern oozes character and charm. The downstairs is an old-fashioned wood-floored alehouse full of glass and brass and with dividing screens that create a cosy feel. Upstairs there is a Dickensian-style candlelit oak-panelled dining room with high backed booths and a real fire.

Thanks to the hard work of the Evans' The Ship Tavern is known for its great food and drink. It has six real ales on tap and is Cask Marque accredited. These include ales from London breweries, with two rotating weekly. The pub produces its own ‘Holborn gin’ and stocks an extensive selection of wines, spirits and cocktails.

The food focuses on home-cooked British cuisine using ingredients sourced from London’s markets wherever possible. Traditional snacks – like pork pies, homemade pork scratchings, sausage rolls and cockles and mussels – accompany drinks in the bar, whilst the dining room menu features classics such as pies and beer-battered fish and chips. Dishes – right down to the pastry – are made from scratch, and Beef Wellington and Sunday roasts are favourites.

To celebrate The Ship’s 475th anniversary, the pub is serving Ship Tavern 475 at £4.75 a pint and a venison and prune pie harking back to dishes popular in the sixteenth century. With all this history The Ship Tavern is thought to be haunted with some pub-goers and staff reporting seeing figures at tables when the pub was closed and glasses swinging by themselves.

Its believed to have taken its name from shipping on the River Fleet, which used to run through Holborn in the 16th century. Through out the hundreds of years of its life time the pub also served as an underground Catholic church during Edward VI’s reign and was consecrated as a Masonic Lodge in 1786. The pub is said to have been rebuilt in 1923 but still has its original cellar and layout. Ross is keen to find out more about this and is appealing to anyone with knowledge to get in touch.

London-born-and-bred Ross is the fourth generation of his family to have a pub in central London. His great-grandparents ran The Cock Tavern in Great Portland Street and his grandfather and father John Evans had The Wheatsheaf on Rathbone Place. When the lease ended at The Wheatsheaf, John and Ross took over The Ship Tavern.

Max Allen, Star Pubs Business Development Manager for central London: “It’s a great honour to present this award. Ross has worked tirelessly to restore The Ship Tavern as a quintessential London pub – it’s like stepping back in time when you walk through the door. It’s a fantastic achievement to have kept it at the top of its game for so long when there is so much competition in central London. It’s all down to Ross who never rests on his laurels and is always adapting what he offers to customers’ changing tastes. We wish him many more happy years at the bar!”

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