A pub where two Jack the Ripper victims drank before they were murdered has gone up for sale after its owners went bust.
Grade II listed The Ten Bells in Spitalfields, London, was put on the market this week.
It is believed to be the pub where Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly had a drink before the Ripper killed them.
The watering hole had once traded on its notoriety and called itself The Jack the Ripper during the Seventies.
But following The Reclaim The Night movement, which started in Leeds in 1977, its identity was changed to the one is has today.
The opportunity to buy the historic venue has occurred due to financial difficulties.
Grade II listed The Ten Bells in Spitalfields, London , was put on the market this week
Discovery of a victim of Jack the Ripper, Whitechapel, London,1888 – engraving of Fortune Louis Meaulle
An engraving from 1889 showing Jack the Ripper, murderer of prostitutes, caught red handed, grabbing one of his victims hair
Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly were two of the five London prostitutes’ whose murders were linked to the serial killer. Mary Ann Nichols, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were also brutally murdered at the hands of the Ripper.
All five of the murders took place between August 31 and December 1888, with their bodies being left mutilated on the streets of Whitehall.
It is among a portfolio of famous pubs owned by the East London Pub Company, which was put into administration last year.
Other up for sale include The Gun, The Saxon in Clapham and The Lock Tavern in Camden.
A spokesperson from administrators Kroll said: ‘Sarah Rayment and Janet Burt of Kroll were appointed as joint administrators of East London Taverns Limited, East London Pub Co Limited, Lock Tavern Limited, Clapham Tavern Limited, Gun Tavern Limited on 16 November 2023.
‘The business of the Companies continue to trade as usual.’
Pubs have struggled to attract drinkers during the cost of living crisis.
Many have struggled to find money to visit their locals, due to high mortgage repayments and a domestic financial crisis triggered by Tory Liz Truss’s disastrous reign as Prime Minister.
Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin said customers are opting to stay at home and drink cheap supermarket beer instead of going out to their local pubs.
In September 2022, the chain announced it would be closing 32 of its pubs, branding it a ‘commercial’ decision as it started to face large bills.
Meanwhile, restaurants across the country are also finding it hard to attract customers due to skyrocketing energy bills, ingredient costs and rent.
The spooky interior of the Grade II listed The Ten Bells in Spitalfields, London, which has gone on sale today
The watering hole had once traded on its notoriety and called itself The Jack the Ripper during the Seventies
Two high profile restaurants, TV host Simon Rimmer’s Greens in Manchester and MasterChef finalist Tony Rodd’s Copper and Ink, both announced they were closing on Tuesday.
They are among five other restaurants up and down the UK which have announced they are closing just before the quiet January period, when punters are even more cash-strapped, kicks off.
Manchester’s nightlife tsar Sacha Lord warned the high profile closures were just the ‘tip of the iceberg’ as trade experts called on the Government to introduce supports for restaurants.
He said on X: ‘Two high profile closures today. Both Simon Rimmer and Tony Rodd are at the top of their game and it’s heartbreaking to see.
‘Sadly, I believe this is the tip of the iceberg. Hospitality URGENTLY needs a reduction in VAT.’
From hell: The infamous serial killer who terrorised Victorian London… but who was he (or she)?
One book named Queen Victoria’s surgeon Sir John Williams (above), who had a surgery in Whitechapel at the time, as Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper is thought to have killed at least five young women in Whitechapel, East London, between August 31 and November 9, 1888, but was never caught.
Numerous individuals have been accused of being the serial killer.
At the time, police suspected the Ripper must have been a butcher, due to the way his victims were killed and the fact they were discovered near to the dockyards where meat was brought into the city.
There are several alleged links between the killer and royals. First is Sir William Gull, the royal physician. Many have accused him of helping get rid of the alleged prostitutes’ bodies, while others claim he was the Ripper himself.
A book has named Queen Victoria’s surgeon Sir John Williams as the infamous killer. He had a surgery in Whitechapel at the time.
Another theory links the murders with Queen Victoria’s grandson, Prince Albert Victor, the Duke of Clarence.
At one point, cotton merchant James Maybrick was the number one suspect, following the publication of some of his diary which appeared to suggest he was the killer.
Some believe the diary to be a forgery, although no one has been able to suggest who forged it.
Other suspects include Montague John Druitt, a Dorset-born barrister. He killed himself in the Thames seven weeks after the last murder.
George Chapman, otherwise known as Severyn Kłosowski, is also a suspect after he poisoned three of his wives and was hanged in 1903.
Another suspected by police was Aaron Kosminski. He was admitted to Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and died there.
Dr Thomas Neill Cream poisoned four London prostitutes with strychnine and was hanged in 1892.
Some of the more bizarre theories about who the murderer was include author Lewis Carroll
Some of the more bizarre links include Lewis Carroll, author of the Alice In Wonderland books, who taught at Christ Church until 1881 – which was at the forefront of the Ripper murder scenery.
Winston Churchill’s father – Lord Randolph Churchill – has also been named as a potential suspect.
Crime writer Patricia Cornwell believes she has ‘cracked’ the case by unearthing evidence that confirms the artist Walter Sickert was the prime suspect. Her theories have not been generally accepted.
Author William J Perring raised the possibility that Jack the Ripper might actually be ‘Julia’ – a Salvation Army soldier.
In The Seduction Of Mary Kelly, his novel about the life and times of the final victim, he suggests Jack the Ripper was in fact a woman.
In February 2019, it was suggested that Jack the Ripper may have been a sinister Dutch sailor who murdered two ex-wives in his homeland and bludgeoned to death two other women in Belgium.
Crime historian Dr Jan Bondeson has named Hendrik de Jong as a prime suspect for the most notorious set of unsolved murders in history.
At the time of the Whitechapel murders, de Jong is believed to have worked as a steward on a ship that made frequent trips from Rotterdam to London, providing him with the perfect means of getting out of the country after his heinous crimes.
He later murdered two of his ex-wives in his native Netherlands in 1893 and bludgeoned to death two women above a pub before attempting to set their bodies on fire in Belgium in 1898.
Police discovering the body of one of Jack the Ripper’s victims, probably Catherine Eddowes