Cock and Hoop inn, c. 1890
This area was originally known as West End rather than West Hampstead or Fortune Green and to the east of the West End Green was a field called Cock and Hoop field. On the west side of the field was the Cock and Hoop Inn and the grounds of a cottage.
The Cock and Hoop Inn was standing on the corner of West End Lane and Fortune Green Road by 1723 although the building depicted in old photographs dates from March 1827. The pub stood at the bottom of Cannon Hill and a small stream flowed down the hill, behind the pub and fed a small pond on West End Green. The pond is long gone, replaced by a grey granite drinking fountain.
The fair which took place on West End Green during the 18th century had long been sponsored by the Cock & Hoop. In 1819 a riot occurred, when a mob of about 200 rampaged through the fair, robbing and beating anyone they met. Ten people were brought to trial: three young men were hanged and the others were deported to Botany Bay. Little trouble was reported the following year but 1820 proved to be the last time the Fair was held.
Finchley New Road (or Finchley Turnpike Road) was driven through the top of the Cock and Hoop field in about 1836. In 1863 Charles Cannon acquired the copyhold enfranchisement from the then Lord of the Manor Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson, for the princely sum of £1321.
Cock and Hoop just before it closed
In 1884 the footpath which ran across the Cock and Hoop field was diverted and Cannon Hill Road as it was then called was created. In 1896 agreement was reached to buiId on the site and the land was sold by Misses Cannon to a speculative builder, Mr Edward Jarvis Cave. After conveyancing was completed on 25th March 1897 the building of mansion blocks commenced on the field behind the pub.
In 1896 the authorities closed the Cock and Hoop when it was discovered that the named licensee had been dead for four years.
Cave, Managing Director of The Middlesex Building Co., bought the Cock and Hoop pub itself and planned to extend Marlborough mansions round the corner of Cannon Hill down to the Green, but he was declared bankrupt in May 1900. The Cock and Hoop site was sold to another developer who demolished the pub and built Alexandra Mansions on the site in 1902.
See a map depicting the position of the Cock and Hoop
The Cock and Hoop site in 2011