Tobacco Dock 5.9

Tobacco Dock is a Grade I listed warehouse in the Docklands area of the East End of London, United Kingdom. It was constructed in approximately 1811 and served primarily as a store for imported tobacco.It is a brick building with many brick vaults and some fine ironwork. It was adjacent to a particular set of docks named London Docks, which have now mostly been filled in. Tobacco Dock is owned by Messila House, a Kuwaiti investment company.At its north entrance stands a 7 ft tall bronze sculpture of a boy standing in front of a tiger. In the late 1800s, wild animal trader Charles Jamrach owned the world's largest exotic pet store, located on Ratcliffe Highway, near to Tobacco Dock. The statue commemorates an incident where a Bengal tiger escaped from Jamrach's shop into the street and picked up and carried off a small boy, who had approached and tried to pet the animal having never seen such a big cat before. The boy escaped unhurt after Jamrach gave chase and prised open the animal's jaw with his bare hands.Queen's Tobacco-pipeThe Queen's Tobacco-pipe once was the common name of the furnace in the north-east corner of the tobacco warehouses in the London Docks. It got its name for the burning of all sorts of contraband, especially tobacco and cigars.