Welcome to Londonist: Time Machine. This week, I’ve put together a special ale trail around central London, which takes in some of London’s most characterful pubs. BUT…BUT… that alone would be a tedious pint-by-numbers article that you could find anywhere on the web. Instead, I’ve selected six pubs from six different centuries, and worked out how to walk between them in chronological order. It’s the Time Traveller’s Pub Crawl!
That’s for the main section. First, a quick recap over the past week on Londonist: Time Machine.
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Last week’s newsletters both featured maps. Wednesday’s article focussed on the second panel of the John Rocque 1746 map, which I’m gradually colouring in to better highlight the different features. Friday’s newsletter was a quick whiz around the London map from my new book Atlas of Imagined Cities, which maps thousands of fictional characters and events.
A few readers also joined me on our site visit to the Cinema Museum in Kennington — a wonderful resource for movie theatre history, built into an old workhouse building. More on that soon. And more site visits, too, for paying subscribers.
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A Time Traveller’s Pub Crawl
Blunder with me, if you will, on a pub crawl for the ages. We’re heading out on a beer-soaked journey around some of London’s most historic boozers. But this is no random selection of ye olde inns. Instead, we’re going to try and visit one pub for every century, from Tudor times onwards. Prepare to embark on a temporal swash, a carousing chronology, as we navigate the time machine through half a millennium of pub history…
Route length: 2.2km (1.4 miles). The optimal route makes use of the networks of passages around Fleet Street and Strand. These are ponderous to describe so if you do the pub crawl in real life, you might want to use your phone or A-Z to navigate between pubs. On the other hand, it’s fun to get a bit lost now and then.
16th Century: Ye Olde Mitre
1 Ely Court, Ely Place, EC1N 6SJ
Our cross-town jirble begins with a bit of a cheat. Ye Olde Mitre claims to be from 1546, but the fabric of the building is almost all from the 18th. So says Historic England. Then again, a wooden support by the window in the front bar reckons to be a cherry tree from the 16th century — a cherry tree that Elizabeth I danced around, according to one of those heartwarming yet “citation needed” legends.
To be honest, you won’t care how old the place is. With its cosy wooden interior and quiet tucked away location, this is one of those unmissable London pubs that should be enjoyed at every opportunity — even if it is no more Tudor than Cate Blanchett.
Head south via New Fetter Lane. When you reach the bottom, turn left along Fleet Street to reach…
17th Century: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
145 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BP
Well, we have to come here, don’t we? It’s the quintessential ye olde London pub. The Cheese has everything: roaring winter fires, a cosy pie room, a “Dickens woz ere” history, a basement room that leads to a sub-basement room that leads to a sub-sub-basement bar. All it lacks is windows, and that is A Good Thing.
The Cheese was rebuilt the year after the Great Fire of 1666, and it looks every inch its age. Famously, a board outside displays a list of all the monarchs who’ve reigned in the centuries since — although Charles III hadn’t yet been added when I last inspected the regal register.
While the many basements and backrooms are charming, my favourite seat is in the front bar by the fire. Here you can see the stuffed remains of Polly the Parrot, a minor celebrity in the early decades of the 20th century. One of the most peculiar meetings in London’s history took place in the pub in 1905, when Polly was introduced to Jumbo the baby elephant. The pint-sized pachyderm then sat in Dr Johnson’s old chair and gamely signed the visitor’s book.
Cross Fleet Street and head west until you’re opposite the Law Courts. Here you’ll find…
18th Century: The George (1723)
213 Strand, WC2R 1AP
If you’re looking for a Georgian pub, then you might as well pick one named after a George. This one originally opened as a coffee house in 1723, which would suggest it’s saluting the then-reigning George I. However, I distinctly remember that the pub once carried a portrait of George III over the main window — just above those police riders’ heads. So who knows?
18th century it might be, but the pub has a cod-medieval theme running throughout. The mock-Tudor half-timbering continues inside, although the effect has been muted by a recent refurb. Look out, too, for the pair of golden monks who bookend the main window. This is a pub that draws from several centuries at the same time. A curious George.
Head up the passage called Clement’s Inn into the London School of Economics (LSE) campus. Here, you’ll find…
19th Century: Ye Olde White Horse
2 St Clement's Lane, WC2A 2HA
London has many fine Victorian pubs. I could have made you slog a little farther north to the Princess Louise or The Lamb, both of which have exquisite 19th century interiors (though mostly pastiche in the Louise’s case). But let’s call in at this much-overlooked pub in the middle of LSE’s campus.
Ye Olde White Horse was probably opened in the first decade of the 19th century. It’s a very rare survivor in these parts. Much of the neighbourhood was cleared away in the early 20th century during construction of Kingsway and Aldwych, or later trampled by LSE. For this reason alone, it should be cherished.
The inside is as cosy and calm as the frontage suggests. Aside from the odd glowing beer tap, the place is unchanged in decades. I imagine most 19th century pubs looked a bit like this, rather than the OTT brass, glass and partitioned-by-class of the better known Victorian boozers. Ye Olde White Horse is unpretentious, understated and lacking in any flamboyance. For those reasons it seldom gets into the guide books. You’re guaranteed a local crowd, which is to say a mix of barristers, LSE professors and the more grounded species of student.
Curl your way around the Aldwych down to Strand, to enter…
20th Century: The Coal Hole
91-92 Strand, WC2R 0DW
It may come as a surprise to learn that the Coal Hole was built in 1903. It feels much older. Architect TE Collcutt1 crafted this corner house with the very best materials, as befits a pub attached to The Savoy. Step over the mosaic floor to reach the exquisitely carved bar, but don’t be distracted by the semi-nude grape pickers on the decorative frieze. It’s that kind of place. The Coal Hole is such a treasure house that CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group describe it as “A pub interior of very special national historic interest.” Try, if you can, to sit up on the mezzanine level, which offers memorable views of the whole glorious place. The basement bar is also worth a look, though not as richly decorated as above.
When you’re done in the pub, take a brief amble down the hill to see the famous gas lamp of Carting Lane, which was once (partly) powered by sewer fumes. Hence, Carting Lane is sometimes called Farting Lane. Well, it’s sometimes called that by me, anyway.
Cross over Strand and up any of the narrow passages to Maiden Lane.
21st Century: The Porterhouse
21-22 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA
We end as we began, with a bit of a cheat. The Porterhouse opened in the year 2000, which purists would contend was still, technically, the 20th century. However, it very much set the template for the mega-pubs of the coming decades with its sprawling layout and huge range of beers. It’s like an early glimpse of a BrewDog pub, but without the £££ and faux-edginess.
The Porterhouse has a mixed reputation. Some people dismiss it as a bit of a tourist pub, or dislike the number of sports screens. I’ve always been fond of the place. It is a dimly lit labyrinth, like a cave system made out of wood and then somehow installed in a ship’s engine room. Every visit (and there have been many) reveals a different room or balcony. It has a hundred beers to choose from. There is much to like. Just don’t arrange to meet a stranger here, or you’ll be seeking one another all evening.
That concludes our time-travelling pub crawl. Cheers!
Thanks for reading! I’m half-tempted to suggest a readers’ pub crawl around the six pubs sometime over summer. Would anyone be up for that? Do leave a comment below, and let me know your own favourite historic pub(s) in London.
Email me on matt@londonist.com anytime with historical tidbits, enquiries or feedback.
Collcutt also designed the nearby Palace Theatre, currently home to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
Yes to an in person time travel pub crawl please!!!
That's a very tempting route. I once tried a pub crawl the length of Fleet Street stopping at every hostelry (once a journalist etc) but this is both more restrained and erudite.