De Hems was built in 1890 and originally called 'The Macclesfield'. In the same year a retired Dutch sea captain called De Hem purchased the pub and reinvented it as an oyster bar. He covered the interior walls of the building with them. All 300,00 shells that had been collected were later transferred to the restaurant upstairs, which became known as the shell room. During World War II the pub became a rendezvous point for the Dutch resistance. The name of the pub was officially changed from 'The Macclesfield' to 'De Hems' in 1959 in recognitiion of it's long Dutch connection