Public houses have been at the heart of communities and for centuries have been guardians of tradition. For the Widow’s Son in Bow, East London, Good Friday brings about not only a celebration of Easter but also a commemoration of sailors who never returned to port.
Legend has it that the pub was built on the site of a widow’s house and one Easter (possibly during the Napoleonic Wars) she baked a hot cross bun in anticipation of the return of her only son. Sadly, her son never returned but, each year until she passed away, she baked a new bun and put it in safekeeping for the day he did return. When the pub was built, the store of buns was discovered and the tradition was born. Every Good Friday sailors from the Royal Navy come to place a freshly baked bun in a net above the bar.
In 2015, the bar closed and it was feared that this unique tradition would be lost. Happily however, in 2017, Bun Day and the sailors returned!
Alan Perryman