Stop 1 of 5
Martha Tabram was drinking at The White Hart on the evening of 7 August 1888. She left and walked into George Yard — now Gunthorpe Street, the alley that runs directly behind the pub — where she was stabbed 39 times. The murder site is less than 50 feet from where you're standing with your pint. Tabram's killing is considered by many Ripperologists to be the opening act of the Whitechapel series, though she's not one of the canonical five. The basement tells its own story. A Polish barber called Severin Klosowski ran his shop down there during the murder spree. He was later convicted as serial poisoner George Chapman, and the officer who arrested him reportedly said: "You've got Jack the Ripper at last." Nobody's proved that one way or the other. The White Hart has been here since at least 1721. It's a McMullen's now, dark wood panelling, not much changed. You start here.