The Edgar Wallace

The Edgar Wallace is a historic public house at 40–41 Essex Street, on the corner of Devereux Court in London’s Strand area. Its documented history reaches back to 1777, when the premises operated under the name The Essex Head. The establishment is associated with Samuel Greaves, identified in historical accounts as a former servant of the Thrale family. The Thrales had connections with Samuel Johnson, who had lodged with the family, placing the tavern within the intellectual and social environment of eighteenth-century London. In 1783, Samuel Johnson and his friend Richard Brocklesby established the Essex Head Club at the tavern. The club’s association with Johnson is the most notable historical feature of the site and gives the premises significance beyond its role as a neighborhood drinking house. The connection reflects the importance of London taverns as places for conversation, sociability, literary exchange, and the formation of informal clubs during the Georgian period. The pub retained the Essex Head identity for much of its history. In 1975, it was renamed The Edgar Wallace to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Edgar Wallace, the British crime writer. The name change linked the establishment to a later literary figure while preserving the premises’ long-standing connection with London’s literary and cultural history. The renaming was commemorative rather than evidence that Wallace founded, owned, or operated the pub. The Edgar Wallace is therefore best understood as a location-based hospitality brand: its identity derives from a specific historic site, its pub function, its association with the former Essex Head, and its literary commemorations. Publicly available reference material does not establish a corporate parent, listed ownership structure, founder, executive team, financial performance, or a broad operating network. The available evidence describes a single London public house rather than an international chain or a diversified consumer brand. Its typical offering is the standard range associated with an English public house, including drinks and on-premises hospitality, although detailed current menus, product ranges, service formats, and operating status are not established by the supplied reference material. The venue’s principal differentiator is heritage: its eighteenth-century origins, its connection with the Essex Head Club, its association with Samuel Johnson and Richard Brocklesby, and its 1975 commemoration of Edgar Wallace. These elements position it as a historic London pub with literary and cultural associations rather than as a mass-market branded product business.

The premises now known as The Edgar Wallace have a documented history extending to 1777, when they were known as The Essex Head. The pub was located on Essex Street in the Strand area of London, at the corner with Devereux Court. Historical accounts identify Samuel Greaves as the landlord during the early period. Greaves had previously served the Thrale family, whose household was connected with Samuel Johnson, the prominent English writer and lexicographer. The tavern became especially notable in 1783, when Samuel Johnson and his friend Richard Brocklesby established the Essex Head Club there. Eighteenth-century London taverns frequently served as meeting places for clubs and intellectual networks, and the Essex Head’s association with Johnson places the site within that tradition. The club connection is the principal historical reason the premises are documented in reference works beyond ordinary pub directories. The establishment continued under the Essex Head name for many years. Historical pub records use the address and earlier name when documenting the building, licensees, and its place in the history of public houses in the St Clement Danes area. The supplied sources do not provide a continuous list of landlords, owners, refurbishments, architectural changes, or operating arrangements across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In 1975, the pub was renamed The Edgar Wallace. The change commemorated the centenary of the birth of Edgar Wallace, a British crime writer born in 1875. The new name created a direct public association with Wallace while retaining the site’s older historical identity in local and heritage references. Available material does not indicate that Wallace had a business relationship with the pub or that the name reflected ownership by his estate. Today, The Edgar Wallace is described as a public house at 40–41 Essex Street, London WC2. Its historical profile rests on the continuity of the site, the earlier Essex Head name, the 1783 Essex Head Club, and the later Edgar Wallace commemoration. Information supplied for this dossier does not establish its present ownership, management, financial performance, corporate affiliations, menu, or confirmed trading status. Accordingly, it is most accurately catalogued as a single-site London pub brand with documented cultural and literary heritage, rather than as a national or international hospitality group.

• 1975

  Renamed The Edgar Wallace

  [1]The Edgar Wallaceen.wikipedia.org

  The pub adopted the name The Edgar Wallace to mark the centenary of the crime writer’s birth.

• 1783

  Essex Head Club established

  [1]The Edgar Wallaceen.wikipedia.org

  Samuel Johnson and Richard Brocklesby established the Essex Head Club at the tavern, creating the site’s principal literary and historical association.

• 1777

  Premises documented as The Essex Head

  [1]The Edgar Wallaceen.wikipedia.org

  The public house at 40–41 Essex Street is recorded under the earlier name The Essex Head.

A historic London public house positioned around heritage, literary associations, and traditional pub hospitality.

• Hospitality

  Traditional pub beverages

  The venue’s core commercial offer is expected to consist of beverages served in a traditional public-house setting. The supplied reference material confirms the site’s pub identity but does not specify current brands, draught selections, wine list, spirits range, or service formats.

• Food service

  Pub food and refreshments

  Food and refreshments are part of the typical hospitality model associated with a London public house, but no current menu or named signature dishes are established in the supplied sources. The offering should therefore be treated as an indicative category rather than a verified contemporary product line.

• Experiential hospitality · 1975

  Historic pub experience

  The venue offers a location-based heritage experience built around its Essex Head origins, the 1783 association with Samuel Johnson and Richard Brocklesby, and the 1975 Edgar Wallace renaming. This is a place-based identity rather than a packaged consumer product.

• 1975

  Commemorative renamingStrategy

  Background

  The long-established Essex Head pub was given a new identity to commemorate the centenary of Edgar Wallace’s birth.

  Action taken

  The premises were renamed The Edgar Wallace.

  Aftermath

  The new name became the venue’s current documented identity while the earlier Essex Head history remained part of its heritage profile.

  Source

1. 1The Edgar Wallaceen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Essex Head, 40 & 41 Essex Street, Strand, St Clement Danespubshistory.com