LXXIX—THE ADAM AND EVE INN, HAMPSTEAD ROAD

On the west side of Hampstead Road, at its southern end where it now joins Euston Road, stood the Adam and Eve, a place of entertainment which was a popular resort when the surroundings of Tottenham Court were still rural. There are many illustrations of the building at various periods and several of them, more particularly the engraving in Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata, state that it stood on the site of the old Manor House. This has been disproved in the foregoing section (LXXVIII), but there is little doubt that its proximity to the Manor House on the opposite side of the road would often cause it to be referred to as Tottenham Court when it was the destination of an excursion. William Hone, in his Yearbook (1832), remembered the Adam and Eve "with spacious gardens at the side and in the rear, a fore-court with large timber trees, and tables and benches for out-door customers." He speaks of the bowers and arbours for tea-drinking parties in the garden. The name of the inn goes back to 1718 and it is to be seen in Hogarth's March of the Guards to Finchley in 1745 (Plate 71) and it may be this inn to which George Wither, in Britain's Remembrancer (1628), refers when he speaks of people resorting to Tottenham Court for cakes and cream.

There is now a public-house of this name on part of the site and Eden Street stands where were once its gardens.