The Kray Twins' London: Legendary spots featured in new Tom Hardy Film

The Kray Twins may have grown up in the East End, but their movie-star glamour and vicious influence spread across London. David Ellis explores the history of the Krays across the capital
Leaders of London: the Kray Twins drive through Soho, where they owned The Hideaway, which later became El Morocco

If Legend is to believed, the infamous Kray twins ruled London with an iron rod. Actually, make that a sawn-off shotgun. The immaculately-dressed brothers wheeled around London in their Rolls Royces (knuckle dusters in the glove compartment were presumably an optional extra), from club to pub and back again.

Tom Hardy's film is as much an exploration of the twins as a celebration of London. With celebrities such as Diana Dors and Frank Sinatra perfuming their world with glamour, the Krays were the East End mafia, but their influence went far further, and they strolled into Soho and Knightsbridge too. While many of their most beloved spots no-longer stand – the house they grew up on in Vallance Road has long been demolished – and all of their businesses are gone, there are still parts of London to see where their corruption flowed.

The Blind Beggar

Perhaps the most infamous spot associated with the Krays, the Blind Beggar still stands and serves today, though it makes little of its notorious past. It actually has two claims to fame, being the location for William Booth’s first sermon, which led to the creation of the Salvation Army. Still, it is better remembered as the site Ronnie Kray, enraged at being called a “fat poof”, walked in and shot rival gangster George Cornell in front of a room of witnesses. Curiously enough, when the police asked around, no-one could remember seeing anything.

Find it: 337 Whitechapel Rd, E1 1BU, theblindbeggar.com

Rough morning: Tom Hardy as the Kray Twins having their breakast in Peccilli's Cafe in the East End
Studio Canal

Pellicci’s Cafe

Pellicci’s, which has stood on the same spot since 1900, was where the Krays used to meet for their breakfast each morning, to discuss the day’s going-ons. They first stepped into this glorious greasy spoon as children. The late owner, Nevio Pellicci, used to refer to the brothers as “gentlemen”, and told the Standard in 2005: “They were children when I started serving them. They were very respectful, charming. If my mother was behind the counter and someone swore they would ask them to show some respect."

When they first went to prison, they sent the owner's granddaughter a teddybear they had made. The cafe still in the same family hands.

Find it: 332 Bethnal Green Rd, E2 0AG

The Carpenter’s Arms, Cheshire Street

Though billing itself as a gastro pub (what would the old guard think?!), the Carpenter’s arm is nevertheless a well-kept traditional spot and all the better for it. Once, though, it was the pub that the twins had bought their beloved mother Violet, in 1967. It was the most notorious pub in London for a time, on par with the Blind Beggar. Ronnie and Reggie hung their boxing gloves behind the bar and, according to the myth, built the bar tops out of coffins. In keeping with their taste, they decorated the pub grandly, in Regency style. Occassionally, but increasingly infrequently, old members of the Kray's firm can be found inside telling stories.

Find it: 73 Cheshire St, E2 6EG, carpentersarmsfreehouse.com

Short-lived happiness: the twins with Reggie's wife Frances Shae, of whom Ronnie was reportedly jealous
Getty/Express Newspapers /Stringer

St James’s Church and St Matthews

The twins are well known to have loved their ma Violet (gawd bless ‘em), but Legend makes much of Reggie’s ill-fated marriage to Frances Shea. She walked out on him after a couple of months, before committing suicide aged just 23, after just two years of a marriage she was attempting to get annulled. Francis and Reggie were married in East End Church St James the Great, with David Bailey taking their wedding photographs. The building still stands, though it’s since been converted to flats, so it's one just to admire from the outside. Then head to the nearby St Matthews’s, which is still a functioning Church, where funerals for the twins, older brother Charlie and mother Violet were all held.

Find it: St Matthew's Row, E2 6DT, st-matthews.co.uk /St James the Great is now St James Court, 334 Bethnal Green Road

The Krays in pictures

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El Morocco, China Town

Though the Krays were open about being gangsters Reggie’s hero was Hollywood’s hardest on-screen Mafia boss, George Raft they kept up appearances with a string of nightclubs. Legend opens with the Twins driving down Gerrard Street in China Town, which is where El Morocco once stood. It’s no longer there instead, for a decent drink, try the Experimental Cocktail Club, or head to Soho for countless other spots but it’s worth remembering the boys when you walk down the street: this is where they began to expand their empire out of the East End, which is when the police began to really pay attention to them. It was first known as The Hideaway, and is featured in the film as the most glizty club the brothers owned.

Find it: Gerrard Street, Soho

The Arts Theatre Club, Soho

Frith Street has a few associations with the Krays: it’s most famous venue, Ronnie Scott’s, almost didn’t survive there at all, as the Krays had tried to persuade Ronnie to move to Knightsbridge instead. The pair also used to carouse downstairs at what’s now the Arts Theatre Club, and with the vintage vibe and glamour, we imagine it can’t be too far removed from the den the twins enjoyed. It’s members only after 11pm, and they charge on the door on Fridays and Saturdays.

Find it: 50 Frith St, W1D 4SQ, theartstheatreclub.com

Home, not so sweet, home: Ronnie and Reggie Kray at Cedra Court, where they both had flats
Terry Disney/Express/Getty Images

Cedra Court

The spot where Francis and Reggie lived, with Ronnie in the flat above, is featured throughout Legend. The flats are still standing and look almost exactly the same. It’s worth a wander around, if only to see the spot where Ronnie apparently arranged orgies with politician Lord Boothby, for which Boothby afforded Ronnie any number of favours. The relationship between Boothby and Ronnie made the papers, but ended with a huge out of court settlement, which meant other papers were unwilling to print details of the Kray’s crimes, with allowed them to get away with murder, quite literally.

Find it: Cazenove Rd, Cazenove, N16 6AT

Celebrity sheen: Barbara Windsor with Ronnie and Reggie Kray at one of their clubs in 1960
Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Esmeralda’s Barn, Knightsbridge

Esmeralda’s hasn’t lost any of its gangster glamour, as the site is now home to the five-star hotel, the Berkley. Esmeralda’s attracted a celebrity crowd, including heavyweight champions and film stars, but it wasn’t easy for them to get it. They took ownership in 1960, after doing their best to extort notorious landlord Peter Rachman. Rachman had given Reggie a cheque that bounced and refused to pay protection to them, worrying they would always pump him for money. Instead, he sold the club to them. T

Find it: Esmerada's may be gone, but the Berkley Hotel can provide the glamour that once was (but fortunately, not the violence). Wilton Place, SW1X 7RL, the-berkeley.co.uk

And if none of these appeal, you can always pop to the Old Bailey, which the twins were extremely familiar with.

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