San Diego Sarah on 18 May 2020  •  Link

I think we can conclude that Pepys was not very fond of the Three Tuns for some reason.

L&M tells us that John Kent was the landlord, but Pepys never mentions him. The Inn opened after the Great Fire, and Dennis Gauden treated the Navy Board to a feast there on November 16, 1666. Pepys admits it was a lavish meal, “but all spoiled in the dressing.”

On May 9 1667 Pepys tells us the Three Tuns was “in our street,” and in 1667 and 1669 the St. Olave’s Ascension Day parish dinner was held there, attended by the merchants and members of the Navy Board as part of the Beating of the Bounds. Since Pepys doesn’t mention attending the event any other year, so presumably he did not attend, and we have no idea where the events were held.

In the month of May, 1667 Pepys visits the Inn four times because of the tragic event which befell the Fielding brothers. Otherwise he just eats there because he’s part of a group.

He did note that lunch cost 5s. in 1667, so maybe that’s why he was unimpressed for a lunch with bad dressing. But everything was very expensive that year.

Mountain Man on 4 Jun 2021  •  Link

There's still (2021) a Three Tuns in London at 1 Portman Mews South. As a young and impecunious graduate student I ate regularly at the Three Tuns in Panton Street off Haymarket which served incredibly bad food at incredibly low prices, and in large quantities. I suspect there's always been a Three Tuns somewhere in London,