One pub in London split between two buildings

EVERY PUB HAS its own characteristics. Some of these establishments are more distinctive than others.  The Ship and Shovell pub in Craven Passage near to Charing Cross station distinguishes itself from all other London pubs by being housed in two separate buildings separated by a public thoroughfare.

The two houses that house the pub’s two halves were built in the early 1730s, but have been modified since then. Until 1998, one building was The Ship pub and the other, facing it, was a separate establishment, The Shovell pub. Shovell either refers to coal workers who laboured in the area, or to Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c1650 –1707), who died at sea near the Isles of Scilly. In 1998, the two pubs were united when their two separate underground cellars were connected to each other with a common kitchen.

So, after 1998, what had once been two pubs became one but housed in two separate buildings. As a sign outside one of the parts of the pub reads, The Ship and Shovell is:

“The only London pub in two halves”

When I next visit it, I will have half a pint in one half and another half in the other half.