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Tobacco Dock is a Listed building warehouse located at Wapping, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Located in the East End of London, it was designed by Scottish people civil engineer and architect John Rennie, the warehouse was completed in 1812 and primarily served as a store for imported tobacco, hence the name. During the early 20th century, economic activity in the area fluctuated due to World War I and World War II, and both London Docks and nearby St Katharine Docks had closed by 1969.
After the Port of London ceased seaborne trade, the warehouse and surrounding areas fell into dereliction until it was turned into a shopping centre which opened in 1989. However, due to the early 1990s recession, it was forced to close two years later. In 2003 English Heritage placed it on its "at risk" register, preventing many developers from attempting a rejuvenation of the former London Docklands site. For two decades Tobacco Dock stood largely empty; it was used as a barracks for military personnel providing security to the 2012 London Olympics.
In 2012 the company Tobacco Dock Ltd launched the building as an events and conferencing space for up to 10,000 people. It also houses offices and co-working spaces operated by Tobacco Dock Venue Ltd, although the site and building itself are owned by Kuwaiti Real Estate Group Al Mubarakia Ltd.
In Victorian era England it was possible to obtain a permit from The London Dock Company to visit the vaults, although women were not admitted after 1pm and wine merchants provided visitors with tasting orders that allowed them to sample the various wines, brandies, spirits and ports that were in storage. Now only four of the original vaults survive. "Later, from the 1860s, the ground floor of the warehouse was predominantly used for wool, furs and skins – hence the name "Skin Floor" – and cork and molasses". In his ''Being Notes of Common Life and Pastoral Work in Saint James's, Westminster and in Saint Georges'-in-the-East'', the Reverend Harry Jones, Rector of Saint Georges'-in-the-East (Smith Elder & Co, London 1875) noted that an army of about 300 cats were "employed" to control the number of rats in the Dock.
The former street side entrance to The London Docks was from Ratcliffe Highway which is now known simply as The Highway; due to it being a Roman roads it was well suited for its usage as a trading centre for the port. Although it was rather notorious for prostitution and other nefarious activities as many of the sailors coming in from their long voyages were single men looking for drink and a woman, with plenty of cash to spare and the taverns and brothels along its length provided for their every need. In 1600 John Stow described it as "a continual street, or filthy straight passage, with alleys of small tenements or cottages builded, inhabited by sailors and victualers". One such shop along Ratcliffe Highway was Germany-born wild animal trader Charles Jamrach's "Jamrach's Animal Emporium", which also served as a museum.
Jamrach also owned a menagerie in Betts Street and a warehouse in Old Gravel Lane, Southwark; he was a leading importer, breeder and exporter of animals, selling to noblemen, zoos, menageries and circus owners, and buying from ships docking in London and nearby ports, with agents in other major British ports, including Liverpool, Southampton and Plymouth, and also in continental Europe. In 1857 a wild Bengal tiger escaped from its box as it was waiting to be loaded into its new den and carried off a young boy of around nine years of age who tried to stroke it. Upon his command, one of Jamrach's men brought a crowbar and struck the tiger three times until it released the boy. However, it was only stunned and jumped up again once Jamrach pried the boy from its jaws; so, after a final blow Jamrach and his men managed to return the tiger to its den largely unharmed.
Hospital reports showed that the boy was unharmed yet Jamrach offered his father, a tailor, £50 in compensation "for the alarm he had sustained". Despite this he sued Jamrach for damages which ended up costing £300: £60 for the father and £240 for the lawyers. Jamrach eventually sold the tiger to Mr. Edmonds of Wombell's menagerie for £300, who made a fortune by exhibiting it as the tiger that swallowed a child.
At the north entrance of Tobacco Dock there now stands a bronze sculpture of a boy standing in front of a tiger to commemorate the incident..
This thievery may have influenced the decision to hire Daniel Asher Alexander - who was the principal architect of both Dartmoor Prison and Maidstone Prison - to design The London Dock, as well as act as the principle surveyor.
"The Great Tobacco Warehouse" was also known as the Queen's Warehouse; hence, the furnace at its centre earned the moniker of "The Queen's Tobacco Pipe" as it was used to burn defective tobacco and other unusable goods as well as those which had not had their duty paid. John Timbs' Curiosities of London (1867) records:
From the mid-1990s the building was almost entirely unoccupied, with the only tenant being a sandwich shop, and a plan to convert it into a outlet store did not come to fruition. In 2003, English Heritage placed Tobacco Dock on the Buildings at Risk Register to prevent inappropriate development and decay due to neglect, although at this time it was already a listed building. A meeting was arranged in 2004 to discuss the building with its owners, the investment company Messila House, to ensure the survival of the historic structure. An English Heritage spokesman commented: "we see Tobacco Dock as a future priority because it is too large and important a site to be left standing empty. It is one of the most important buildings in London and if brought back into use it would reinvigorate the whole area". Regeneration magazine, 12 November 2004.
In 2005 the owners announced that they were working on a mixed-use scheme for Tobacco Dock which could incorporate a four-star hotel, shops, and luxury apartments. As of July 2012, the upper areas of the complex were still accessible to the general public whilst the majority of the lower areas were cordoned off.
In the summer of 2012 the Ministry of Defence used Tobacco Dock as temporary accommodation for 2,500 soldiers deployed to guard the Olympic Games in London.
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