Est. 1664
King Street Bristol City Centre BS1 4ER
Llandoger Trow
Pirates and privateers who came into the Llandoger were often on the look out for rich customers to rob or ransome and the fact the pub was so near the sea made it easy to whisk their pray away. The pub has cellars and tunnels beneath that lead out towards the docks, so the pirates used to ‘shanghai’ the pub’s richer clients in the bar and drag them down, through the cellars and tunnels, to their ships and hold them there, waiting for some form of payment.
Bristol’s strong links with the Ocean and its role in the tabacco and slave trades inevitably lead to the city’s involvement in piracy. This meant that the Llandoger and other public houses near the sea front were mainly occupied by privateers and pirates alike. Although the Llandoger is down the road form the Old Vic theatre as well, so many actors stayed and drank there too.
A model of how the trow would have looked with the 5 origional gables. Built in one of the last timber framed, finest buildings, in Bristol. Near the docks and the water is where Bristol was most heavily bombed during the war. Half of the building the Trow held was hit by German fire in WW2 and the first 2 gables, nearest the water, were destroyed. The Trow, at the time, only housed the last gable, furthest from the dock, however now it has expanded into all three remaining origional gables.
King Street was developed from the mid 17th century on land formerly known as the Marsh. The corporation’s title to the Marsh is derived from the charter of John Count of Martain, 1189-91, which granted to the Burgesses all lands and void places within the boundary of Bristol.