The Red Ensign Club
Following the destruction of the "Royal Berwick Theatre" Rev George Smith of the Methodist Mariners church on Dock Street decided to build a sailors' home on the site. It was founded in 1830 and opened in 1835, with accommodation for 100 sailors. This was later expanded to 500. The main entrance was originally on Well Street, but later changed to be on Dock Street. The London Nautical School opened here in 1893. In 1955 it was modernised and renamed the "Red Ensign Club". Following the decline of the British Merchant Fleet, it closed in 1974. It is now a youth club. Well Street was renamed Ensign Street in honour of the hostel. According to John Stape's biography "The Several Lives of Joseph Conrad", Conrad first lived in this sailor's home at the age of 21, and returned several times. There was a sugar refinery at the bottom of Dock Street and Well Street. It is mentioned by Charles Dickens in "The Uncommercial Traveller". According to Roy Palmer, one version of the sea shanty "Tiger Bay" makes reference to "Well Street", and suggests it was the one by Wellclose Square. (see "The Oxford Book of Sea Songs" 1986).
Read more about this topic: Wellclose Square
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