Adam and Eve Tavern

The Adam and Eve

ROBBED. About Three o'Clock last Thursday Morning, the House of Mr. Billson, a Farmer at Tottenham-Court, was beset by a Gang of eight Villains, who seized a Man that was milking in the Cow-House, whom they tied to a Post; after which they secured the Maid, and rifled the House of Money and Plate to a considerable Value. The Maid in her Fright called out Fire, which being heard by Mr. Giles, Master of the Adam and Eve near the Turnpike, he got up to the Farmer's Assistance, but the Villains secured him also, and robbed the House of what they thought proper. The same Morning they broke open a Hatter's Shop in that Road, and robbed it of Hats to a considerable Value, after which they made clear off with their Booty.
—Whitehall Evening Post February 11–14, 1749

4 Adam and Eve “at the corner of the Hampstead Road” Tea-house & gardens 1718–90s; Coffee-house, Tavern & Tea-gardens c1800–90s.

4. Adam and Eve, or The Adam and Eve, New Road 'at the corner of the Hampstead Road.'

Mentioned as Tea House & Gardens 1718; as Coffee-house 1809.

According to a 'Plan of the Vicinity' published in 1813, Shepherd delin. which also bears an engraving of the 'Remains of the Manor House, denominated the Lordship of Toten Hall, now vulgarly called Tottenham Court, and occupied by The Adam and Eve Tea House and Gardens' the house stood at the corner of the New Road from Paddington, and the road from Hampstead known as Tottenham Court Road. In Roques Map 1746 the buildings stand alone, well out infields, that line both sides of Tottenham Court Road.

After a varied existence dating from the middle of the seventeenth century, the house developed into a tavern and as a place of entertainment, where according to a proclamation printed in the 'Daily Courant' 22 July 1727, headed 'Tottenhoe, alias Tottenhall, alias Tottenham Court in the Parish of St. Pancras' 'unlawful games and plays' took place with the result of 'encouraging crowds, &c., riots and misdemeanours' and the 'keeping of public gaming-tables and gaming-houses' encouraging vice and immorality 'debauching and ruining servants, apprentices, and others, as well as the disturbance of public peace' it was determined to put an end to all these sources of annoyance. An Annual Fair was held here in the eighteenth century, and the advertisement-sheets give full particulars of the theatrical booths and the wide variety of entertainment offered. The annual Fair came to an end about 1808, when says Chancellor the so-called Gooseberry Fair took its place 'held in the immediate purlieus' of the Adam and Eve, known then as Tea Gardens.

1809–11 The directories for 1809–11 list the house as a Coffee House with John Greatorex as Proprietor. A few years later the directories revert to Adam and Eve Tavern and Tea Gardens.

1813–19

The engraving of the house in 1813 shews that the house then advertised 'TEA. COFFEE. FINE BOTTLE PORTER. ALE. CYDER & ALL'

1838

Described as a coffee-house as late as 1838. An interesting description is to be found in Hone's Year Book, when within his recollection he says 'it was a house standing alone, with spacious gardens in the rear and at the sides, and a fore-court with large timber trees, and tables and benches for out-of-doors customers. In the gardens were fruit trees, and bowers, and arbours, for tea-drinking parties. In the rear there were not any houses; now there is a town....'
     The New Road was built in 1757 and renamed Euston Road in 1857 about the time the Metropolitan Railway came into being. As late as 1773 Tottenham-Court-Road was 'unbuilt upon'. In May 1785, the balloonist Vincent Lunardi, who had ascended from the Artillery Ground, made a forced descent in the grounds of the Adam & Eve, when he 'fell with his burst balloon, and was but slightly injured'.

For a detailed account of Toten Hall and its later history see 'London's Old Latin Quarter'—Chancellor (1930).

The Adam and Eve Inn, Hampstead Road

On the west side of Hampstead Road, at its southern end where it now joins Euston Road, stood the Adam and Eve, a place of entertainment which was a popular resort when the surroundings of Tottenham Court were still rural. There are many illustrations of the building at various periods and several of them, more particularly the engraving in Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata, state that it stood on the site of the old Manor House. This has been disproved in the foregoing section (LXXVIII [Manor House of Tottenhall (Tottenham Court)]), but there is little doubt that its proximity to the Manor House on the opposite side of the road would often cause it to be referred to as Tottenham Court when it was the destination of an excursion. William Hone, in his Yearbook (1832), remembered the Adam and Eve "with spacious gardens at the side and in the rear, a fore-court with large timber trees, and tables and benches for out-door customers." He speaks of the bowers and arbours for tea-drinking parties in the garden. The name of the inn goes back to 1718 and it is to be seen in Hogarth's March of the Guards to Finchley in 1745 (Plate 71) and it may be this inn to which George Wither, in Britain's Remembrancer (1628), refers when he speaks of people resorting to Tottenham Court for cakes and cream.

There is now a public-house of this name on part of the site and Eden Street stands where were once its gardens.