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The George and Vulture is a restaurant in London. There has been an inn on the site, which is off Lombard Street in the historic City of London district, since 1142. It was said to be a meeting place of the notorious Hellfire Club and has long been a revered City chop house.

It is mentioned at least 20 times in the 1837 novel The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, who frequently drank there himself. The George and Vulture has been the headquarters of the City Pickwick Club since its foundation. When it was threatened with demolition, Cedric Charles Dickens, the author's great-grandson, campaigned to save it. Since 1950 it has been the home of his Dickens Pickwick Club and, in the same year, it became the venue for the Christmas Day Dickens family gathering, in the Dickens Room.

The George and Vulture was praised in Good Food Guide to London, 1968, as a "rare example of an old City chop-house." By that date, if not earlier, the establishment was celebrated for its Pickwick Pudding that sold in 1968 for twelve shillings sixpence but only on Thursday during oyster season. A recipe for said pudding was published in the 1968 Recipes from Restaurants in the Good Food Guide. Essentially, it was a steak and kidney pudding served with oysters poached in their own liquor and served separately.

The George and Vulture is a Grade II listed building, dating back to the early 18th century. It is now run by Samuel Smith Old Brewery (Tadcaster).

References

1. ^ The "George and Vulture" in "Pickwick Papers" Cedric Charles Dickens Pub. by Dickens Publishing (1995) pg 10 ISBN 0-9518525-2-3
2. Dickens, op. cit. pg 12
3. Dickens, op.cit. pg 1
4. Dickens, op. cit. pg 1
5. Good Food Guide to London. London: Which?. 1968. pp. 72–73.
6. Costa, Margaret (1968). Recipes from the Restaurants in the Good Food Guide. London: Consumers' Association, publishers of Which? and Hodder & Stoughton. p. 99.
7. Historic England. "George and Vulture (1064728)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
8. "Corporation of London Extract from the Planning Register – Site Reference 2611". Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
9. "Hackney' Listed Buildings" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 25 October 2008.
10. "The George and Vulture Chop House". george-and-vulture.co.uk. Retrieved 1 August 2023.

External links

• Media related to George and Vulture at Wikimedia Commons
• Charles Dickens London – The George And Vulture

v t e Charles Dickens's The Pickwick Papers (1836)
Characters	Samuel Pickwick Sam Weller Alfred Jingle Nathaniel Winkle Augustus Snodgrass Tracy Tupman Mrs Bardell Tony Weller Mr Wardle
Places	Goswell Street Bath Ipswich Fleet Prison
Adaptations	Samuel Weller, or, The Pickwickians (1837) Pickwick (1889) 1913 film 1921 film 1952 film 1963 musical 1969 TV film 1985 TV series 1985 film
Other	"If I Ruled the World" George and Vulture

51°30′47″N 0°05′09″W / 51.5130°N 0.0858°W / 51.5130; -0.0858

• Commercial buildings completed in 1748
• Grade II listed pubs in the City of London
• Charles Dickens
• The Pickwick Papers
• Hellfire Club