Ferry Road 8, "Tide End Cottage"
Road: Ferry Road
Property: 8, "Tide End Cottage" pub
Nos. 6 and 8 were formerly two semi-detached cottages, now combined as the public house called Tide End Cottage. It was originally described as 2-storey, cement faced brick, tile roof, sash windows, splayed bays on ground floor, but the ground floor windows are not original. Paved area in front for customers. The pub has been extended to fill the gap between it and No. 10. It is possible that nos. 2-8 were originally nos. 1-4 Tide End Cottages, given the name of the public house.
The Tide End Cottage pub is situated 50 yards from the bank of the River Thames, close to Teddington Studios. The pub dates back to 1820. It was near this pub on the River Thames at Tough's boat yard that 100 "small ships" were assembled prior to their perilous passage across the English Channel to assist in the Dunkirk evacuation in May 1940. The pub sign depicts the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) under German fire.
Operation Dynamo called on the people of Britain to help evacuate the hundreds of thousands of stranded troops in France that were forced to retreat from the might of the advancing German army. Seaworthy boats that were "anything over 30ft with a flat bottom that will float" were requisitioned, stripped of essentials and sent towards France to form a massive 700 strong impromptu armada nicknamed the Dunkirk Little Ships which rescued troops from the beaches over ten days in May 1940. On the final day of this evacuation Winston Churchill left us with the unforgettable "we shall fight them on the beaches" line as a war cry to the German forces they had just escaped from.
The evacuation story is also told in the film Dunkirk starring John Mills and a young Richard Attenborough. 100 boats were launched from Teddington and you can find a picture of the scene that greeted them on the other side of the channel on the sign hanging outside the Tide End Cottage pub.
Other than as described above, the front of the pub is original and inside it is a cosy local's pub which is all one room split into three parts.
This page is part of the Directory of Buildings of Townscape Merit (BTMs) and Listed Buildings in Teddington assembled by the Planning and History Groups of The Teddington Society. Click on any photo for a higher resolution version. Copyright for the material on this page rests with the contributor.