The Castle is a Grade II listed public house at 34-35 Cowcross Street, Smithfield, London.
A public house of this name has existed on this site since at least the 18th century.
Eliza, the wife of Sir John Soane, was born on the same site in 1760.
It was once frequented by King George IV, who issued the landlord with a pawnbroker's licence and handed over his gold watch to obtain some cash after losing money on a cockfight. There is still a pawnbroker's sign on the outside of the pub.
Construction of the current building by the architect H Dawson started in 1865 and it was opened on 21 November 1867.
Public house at nos 34-35 flanked by industrial or commercial buildings in Cowcross Street and Turnmill Street. 1865. By H.Dawson.
Yellow brick set in Flemish bond, stucco, and possibly also stone, roof of artifical slate so far as visible. Four and five storeys over basement, thirteen-window range. The pub of five-window range and projecting slightly between symmetrical wings, the whole front curved in plan, the outer bays also projecting slightly. The two wings match each other except that nos 32-33 Cowcross Street has been plastered over. On nos 101-102 Turnmill Street the ground floor is stuccoed; flat-arched entrance to right with segmental-arched overlight set in rusticated surround; the other three openings, which are slighly altered, have segmental stilted arches with faceted keystones and paterae in the spandrels; moulded stucco cornice. Outer window on each floor round-arched; the rest flat-arched to first floor, and segmental-arched above with keystones and alternating stone and brick voussoirs; roundel with cock in low relief below outer second-floor window. Stucco cornice and blocking course.
The pub has a ground-floor frontage of stucco or possibly stone with a deep base and paired pilasters to either side linked by blocks, fascia and cornice over; between these the pub front consists of a central entrance flanked by two flat-arched windows of unequal width on either side; slim fluted columns between entrance and windows, pairs of similar columns between windows. Upper windows segmental-arched to first floor, round-arched to second and third floors with sill bands to first and second floors, bracketed cornice at sill level to third floor; the central windows a group of three with broad stucco architrave, archivolts and shallow arcaded bracketed balcony to central window on the second floor; deep bracketed cornice; three round-arched dormers with metal finials rising from the parapet. The only original features of the interior are the decorative treatment of the beams, and possibly the ceiling paper.
There is a pawnbroker's sign on the outside of the pub. George IV granted the landlord here a pawnbroker's license, which still holds good today, in reward for the loan of money against his pocket-watch, to pay for his gambling depts at a Clerkenwell cockfight.