A Little History…
The earliest official reference to the pub now known as The Queens Larder is from a deed drawn up in 1710. The humble Alehouse without a sign was transferred from hand to hand during its early years, starting with a London Stationer and eventually ending up in the hands of a Carpenter named Kendrick.
It was during this era that our reigning sovereign, King George III, began to show signs of the mental illness with which the modern public is so familiar with but at the time was to sensitive to be made public and the nature of his illness not understood, that the king for a while stayed privately in Queen Square under the care of his physician Dr Willis.
The treatment was helped by the kings consort, Queen Charlotte, who rented out a small cellar found beneath the present tavern in which she secretly stored special delicacies and provisions that might relieve the tedium and misery of the kings confinement.
Later in George’s reign, when the Ale House became a tavern, it was named The Queens Larder in honour of Queen Charlotte and her unerring devotion to her husband.
The Queens Larder is found in an area that has always been something of a center for philanthropy and medicine. The Foundling Hospital was founded in 1742 by Captain Thomas Coram for exposed and deserted children. Great Ormond Street Hospital as well as the Neurology Department of UCL and The Homeopathic Hospital are found in the surrounding area.
