The lane went underneath Craven Passage, the alley with the Ship and Shovel pub.
Hungerford Lane was originally known as Brewer’s Lane and, approached by an archway under No. 15, Strand, formerly extended to the river. It took its name from an ancient brewery or “Beirhouse,” which at the close of the fifteenth century was held, together with several cottages, by John Evingar under lease from the Prior of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.
Evingar, though he described himself as a “Citizen and Brewer of London, was an emigrant from the Low Countries.
There was a reference to an adjacent Spur Alley in 1640. In a document entitled A brief survey of some of the streets of London, written about 1617, there is a reference to ’Spurre Alley under the Salutation tav.’ and, next to it, to ’Arnold Lane’ (the latter refers to Brewer’s Lane – Richard Arnold was at this time the occupier of the Brewhouse). Like most of the turnings out of the south side of the Strand, Spur Alley was originally approached through an archway and this continued to be the case long after the street was rebuilt and renamed Craven Street.
Hungerford Lane doesn’t really exist anymore – it has been almost completely built over as modern shops and offices next to Charing Cross Station. The name survives, but not much else.
