Infamous London Gangster’s Old Pub The Fox For Sale at £85,000 Per Year

This pub, named The Fox and located in East London, has a notorious past. It’s believed a gang used it to plan the 1983 Security Express heist, where £6 million was stolen. Some speculate the crooks stored the cash there before moving it elsewhere.

The pub’s tenant at the time was Clifford Saxe, a former armed robber. He supposedly retired to Spain soon after the heist. Now, a new tenant is sought for The Fox, with a 20-year lease offered with no brewery ties and an £85,000 annual rent.

One pub guide describes the Fox as “attractive and prominent,” while acknowledging it needs work. Notably, the listing omits its shady history. The stolen loot, totaling £6 million, weighed five tonnes in banknotes. It seems Saxe planned the heist at The Fox, with reports suggesting money counting in the back room.

Author Sam Cullen suggests a secret room might have been used to hide money. Only £2 million of the stolen cash was ever recovered. Saxe fled to Spain with other wanted men, consistently denying involvement in the crime until his death in 2002 while awaiting extradition.

Cullen, who writes about London’s lost pubs’ histories, noted the previous landlord’s retirement following the heist. Police later discovered a hidden room in the pub, characterized by a smell of beer and mildew. Stolen banknotes with the same odor were found, leading police to believe they had located the stash.

In 2012, The Fox was transformed into a beer venue featuring a photo booth, however it closed six years later. The owners originally planned to convert the property into flats. Currently, the Wellington Pub Company has listed The Fox, an inclusion in Cullen’s new book focusing on historical pubs.

Cullen’s book highlights pubs like the boxing pub frequented by Ali, the venue where Winton DJ’d, and The Camden Falcon, where Coldplay once performed. He expresses optimism about the future of pubs. He believes councils can offer some support, by listing pubs as community assets of value.

Cullen stresses the importance of community involvement in preserving pubs, citing the Antwerp Arms pub as an example of successful collaboration. While acknowledging the difficulty when owners are uncooperative, he emphasizes the existing avenues for resistance. Even boarded-up pubs, according to Cullen, can be revitalized.