The Brown Bear is a Victorian public house situated at 139 Leman Street in Whitechapel, East London. It is a Grade II listed building, dating back to the early 19th century.
The Krays
Former jewel thief Lenny Hamilton has claimed that the feud between Ronnie Kray and George Cornell began in the early 1960s. At least two former associates, Lenny Hamilton and Bobby Teale, suggested that the rivalry was set in motion in the early 1960s, with a fistfight outside The Brown Bear pub in Leman Street, Whitechapel, which Cornell dramatically won, making him apparently the only person ever to knock Ronnie Kray out. Cornell had knocked Ronnie unconscious outside the pub, which was a terrible loss of face for Ronnie. Subsequently, Cornell became very scornful of the twins and would often belittle them in public after this event.
The pub is also where Tony and Chris Lambrianou started their evenings drinking on the night that ended in the murder of Jack McVitie. The building opposite the pub was once Leman Street Police Station, where most of the officers hunting Jack the Ripper were based.