Yorkshire Stingo

Its name derived from the custom for Yorkshiremen in London to gather at the pub and its adjoining pleasure gardens on the first three days of May each year.

In May 1808 it was reported that over 20,000 people gathered there, drinking strong ale, and playing football and other 'rustic Yorkshire sports'.

An admittance charge was made, redeemable with the waiters, as a method of preventing those with no money from enjoying the facilities.

In the 1830s the Yorkshire Stingo pleasure gardens attracted crowds of spectators to witness the ascent of hot air balloons, including balloonist Margaret Graham on 17 May 1837.

The other two balloons were launched from the Rosemary Branch, Hoxton (Margaret Graham) and the Vauxhall Gardens (Charles Green).

When the Stingo balloon had reached an altitude of 200 feet (61.0 m), Green dropped a cat in a basket attached to a small parachute which landed safely near Maida Hill.

[11] In 1847 the Health of Towns Commissioners located the vacant pleasure gardens and bowling site 'for erecting baths and washhouses for the labouring classes in Marylebone'.

It originally obtained water for brewing from the deep well at Freshwater Place in nearby Homer Street.

[17] In 1909 the Brewery was acquired by the Church Army for £12,000,[18] to be converted into workshops, a home for first-time offenders and a labour relief depot, as well as a chapel for religious services.

Paine supervised both the work at the Walker factory, and the erection of the bridge in the grounds of the Yorkshire Stingo.

Paine later quipped that "the French Revolution, and Mr Burke's attacks upon it, drew me off any pontifical works".