Black Friar's Pub

The Black Friar's pub is a setting in the Stoneheart Trilogy. In the series, it is the location of the plinth of the Black Friar, a spit who watches over the pub. It is also the home of the impish spit Little Tragedy.

History
The Black Friar's pub was first built in 1875 over a medieval Dominican friary.

The pub was open for business during World War II. Little Tragedy mentions the Blitz during a discussion with Edie, and he references a poster that read "Careless Talk Costs Lives."

In the 1960s the pub was scheduled to be demolished. A movement of protest against its demolition led by poet Sir John Betjeman, saved it from this fate and preserved its history for future generations.

Appearance
The Black Friar's pub is a triangular building on Queen Victoria Street in London. The outside of the pub is a narrow triangular-shaped four-story building on the corner of a street. The large green-and-gold mosaic number 174 is printed above the doorway, and above that is the plinth that the Black Friar rests on. Above this is a yellow clock that is said to read "five to seven."

The interior of the pub is decorated with statues and carvings of cherubs, milkmaids, fauns, and other strange figures. There is a bar and tables, as most pubs have for guests to sit at. Stepladders and other equipment are left inside the pub; the Friar says that people have been working on the interior, and that the repairs are greatly needed. In a small alcove, the ceiling is decorated with gold checkered mosaic chips. Mirrors are also put up on the insides of the alcove archway.

Stoneheart
The Black Friar's pub is where George and Edie go to after losing the Gunner. The two of them spend some time here as the Black Friar cares for them. They warm themselves and their wet clothes with a heater from the building's basement, and they eat crisps and drink Coke that the Friar gives them. The pub is the first real sanctuary that either of them have since their adventure together began.

George and Edie leave the pub after the Black Friar inquires about the stone dragon head that George broke off of the Natural History Museum. Not trusting the Friar with the dragon head, George leaves quickly, wanting to put distance between him and the Friar; he has no intention of returning either.

Ironhand


Edie returns to the pub after she is separated from George. Once there, she speaks to Little Tragedy, and then the Black Friar. She tells the Friar what had happened to her and George since they last left the pub. She then agrees to allow the Friar to speak to George later on, after he tells her about the mirrors and the Hard Way. The Friar explains to Edie how parallel mirrors can be used to travel through space and time. After Edie fails to believe it, the Friar shows her a hellish, fiery scene in his alcove mirrors. Edie accidentally falls into one of these mirrors and is transported into the world.

After being found by the Black Friar in the burning city, Edie follows the spit out of the world. The two of them end up back in the pub; however, it is the same pub during the Second World War. They hear Little Tragedy speak, and they see the poster that reads "Carelss Talk Costs Lives." Edie then understands that the mirrors are truly able to transport somebody through space and time. She also then realizes why Tragedy had said that she used to like the war poster.

When the Walker and two Tallymen appear outside of the pub, the Friar agrees to distract the visitors while Little Tragedy takes Edie to safety. However, the place in the mirror that Edie is brought to is not safe; instead it is the House of the Lost. Tragedy, who now reveals his reluctant alliance with the Walker, leaves an angry and scared Edie in the room and presumably returns to the pub.