The ‘lost’ London pub hiding secrets of daring £6,000,000 armed heist

The Fox has been linked with one of the biggest cash heists in British history (Picture: Google Maps/Getty)

If walls could talk, the Fox in Hackney would have quite a story to tell. 

A back room at the East End pub was allegedly used by a ruthless gang planning one of Britain’s biggest armed robberies — the £6 million Security Express robbery in Shoreditch. 

Banknotes from the 1983 heist are then thought to have been stashed at the licensed premises before being moved on to another location. 

At the time, the corner pub was tenanted by former armed robber Clifford Saxe, who decided to take early retirement in the Costa Del Sol.  

The loot from the Security Express HQ, which was known as ‘Fort Knox’, consisted of untraceable bank notes weighing five tonnes.

Saxe and his accomplices are alleged to have planned the heist from the back room at the Kingsland Road haunt and at least some of the money is said to have been counted there after the raid.  

There’s suspicion that a secret compartment at the royal red pub was used to conceal the spoils, according to author Sam Cullen.  

Only £2 million of the cash was ever recovered. 

The Fox stands mothballed on the Kingsland Road in Hackney after its last iteration as a craft beer pub ended (Picture: Google Maps)

The publican was one of Scotland Yard’s most wanted men and part of the ‘Famous Five’ — also including Freddie Foreman, John Mason, Ronald Everet and Ronnie Knight — who fled to Spain. 

Saxe, who always denied any part in the crime, died in 2002 while awaiting extradition. He was aged in his 70s.

Cullen has charted the Fox’s murky history along with the rich and diverse backstories of more than 200 other ‘lost pubs’ in London.  

‘In the 80s the Fox had a landlord who apparently was involved in the Security Express robbery,’ Cullen said. ‘After the robbery he very co-incidentally retired to Spain while the police were busy trying to find out what on Earth had happened to this money.  

‘When they went to the pub the following year, they found a false wall, broke through it and discovered a secret compartment where they thought it had been hidden. It smelt of beer and mildew.

‘Interestingly, the police didn’t necessarily say whether anything had been found there, but when they then found some of the banknotes from the heist, they smelt the same as that room so they thought the loot must have been stored in the pub.’  

New owners tried to give the pub a fresh start but it eventually shut down and the frontage is currently boarded up (Picture: Google Maps)

The Fox re-launched as a popular craft beer pub in February 2012, in keeping with the changing nature of the Hackney-Shoreditch area, with a roof terrace, photobooth and beer vending machine.  

Six years later it was closed and boarded up in line with the freeholder’s intention to renovate the building and turn the top floor into flats.

At present, the bottom floor is empty with the frontage obscured by hoardings and graffiti. 

The Fox is currently being advertised by the Wellington Pub Company, which states that the premises requires ‘fit-out/investment’ on a 20-year, free of tie lease.

The Security Express building in East London where a gang of dangerous armed robbers struck in April 1983 (Picture: Harry Prosser/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

The former home Of Ronnie Knight And Clifford Saxe in La Capellania, near Malaga in Spain (Picture: Paul Fievez/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock)

Saxe’s former haunt is now among the colourful establishments featured by Cullen in his new book, London’s Lost Pubs. 

Others around the capital include the Thomas A Becket, a famous boxing pub where Muhammad Ali once visited, the Old King Lud, where Dale Winton was once a DJ, and The Camden Falcon, where Coldplay played one of their first gigs. 

Outside London, the controversial saga of the Crooked House in the Black Country is another example of a long history being lost along with bricks and mortar.  

Pubs are being lost at an alarming rate, with the Campaign for Real Ale having previously warned of more than 1,000 closures last year — 200 more than 2023.

However Cullen feels that licensed premises have more of a ‘fighting chance’ now than compared to previous years. 

‘There are more ways to save pubs now then there was, say 15 years ago,’ he said.  

‘Councils can give pubs listed status and they can be nominated as assets of community value, which gives them a fighting chance.

‘There are some good stories in London, including one in Tottenham called the Antwerp Arms, which was saved from closure by the community.  

‘It does help if a pub is in a well-heeled community which can navigate the process.  

‘It’s tricky if the person who owns a pub doesn’t want to play ball, but in general there is more that can be done than previously as there are at least things communities can fight back with now.’ 

The Old King Lud in Ludgate Circus where Dale Winton once played as a DJ is another of London’s lost pubs (Picture: Tim Brown)

Cullen, from Barnes in south-west London, is not writing off pubs like the Fox even when they have been boarded up for many years. 

‘Providing the building hasn’t been demolished you never know,’ he said.  

‘It’s a shame to walk past the Fox where the owners of the craft beer pub made a go of it for many years until it shut down relatively recently, but it could rise from the ashes.  

‘I’d like someone to be reading about a pub that’s been shut for many years in the pub when it’s reopened.

‘I have no problem with the book being out of date because then they’ll know about the struggle and how it was overcome.’ 

Sam Cullen has been tracing the histories of London’s lost pubs (Picture: Sam Cullen)

The Londoner hopes his book will highlight the role pubs can play in communities — and why those that remain should be preserved. 

‘I’ve always been fascinated with pubs, not just because they’re a great place to meet people and socialise but because they tell us so much about a place and its history,’ he said. 

‘We’re fortunate in Britain to have so many good pubs and the purpose of the book was to look back fondly and make sure the over 200 pubs and bars and the characters, be they famous or just locals, are not forgotten.

‘I just wanted to make sure they are kept in the memory and not forgotten as well as to serve a reminder of the places and people we have now.’ 

*London’s Lost Pubs is available now on White Owl Books

Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact josh.layton@metro.co.uk

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