Camels in London?

Looking up on the corner of Lovat Lane & Eastcheap, you will see a sign for Eastcheap Records. Above this, there are three camels laden with goods being led by a man dressed in Bedouin robes.

This was once the home of Peek Brothers. This company was set up in 1823 by three brothers, Richard, William & James, as a London tea merchant. By 1895 they had merged with another firm & became Peek Brothers & Winch & called themselves ‘the largest wholesale dealer of tea & coffee in the world.’

This building was built in 1884 & this carving was made by sculptor William Theed, who was famous, not only for his royal portraits, but for a statue that symbolised Africa & is part of the Albert Memorial in Kensington (1865–69). That statue features a very life-like & life-size camel. When the Peeks wanted to have camels on the building, he was the obvious choice. The Peeks company was well known for its ‘Camel’ brand of tea & this design comes from the Peek Bros’ trademark. What is a bit odd as we have two single humped dromedaries (native to Arabia) & a twin humped Bactrian camel (native to Central Asia) apparently crossing the same desert. Not how things are at all but artistically it gives balance, & it might be symbolising the breadth of the company’s international activities. Beneath their feet are the bones of another camel, perhaps hinting at how fraught the journey to bring tea to London was?

As Peek Bros. were importers of tea, coffee & spices it’s been suggested that each camel is carrying one of these as their loads are all different shapes. They continued trading until 1978.

📍 Location

Eastcheap Records

20 Eastcheap

London EC3M 1DT

Nearest public transport is Monument Station (Circle, District).

If you want to discover more about the City of London, why not ask GuidesofLondon for one of our tours?