London is happily blessed with many historic pubs, all of which like to boast they are the oldest and have the most interesting past.
But the pub that probably just gets my vote, is the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street.
It looks like a pub from another age, which is exactly what it is. Rebuilt in 1666 after the original burnt down in the Great Fire of London, the main door is found down a narrow alley alongside the building and with its lack of natural light, you are immediately taken back to the world of Dickens and Samuel Johnson.
Inside you will discover a number of dimly lit bars with 19th century wooden panelling and open fire places just to add to the atmosphere. And to make sure you know you are in good company, there are plaques on the walls showing the various famous people who frequented the pub.
There are numerous literary associations here and the pub has featured in many novels throughout the years including The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and The Million Dollar Bond Robbery by Agatha Christie, where fictional detective Hercule Poiret dines in the Cheshire Cheese and enjoys ‘the excellent steak and kidney pudding’.
Probably the pub’s most famous patron was an African grey parrot who famously became known as ‘Pretty Polly’. She lived in one of the bars and loved to mimic regulars when they ordered their drinks often with an expletive laden accompaniment. When Polly died in 1926, she was taxidermied and placed under a glass dome overlooking the bar, where it still remains.
Image courtesy of Banjobacon at English Wikipedia. Self-photographed (Original text: Picture I took)