Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street, EC4

An historic rambling, low-ceilinged tavern built behind Fleet Street in the wake of the Great Fire in 1666, and still has an historic atmosphere about it helped by the strange lack of natural lighting that adds its own gloomy charm. There are six drinking rooms including a courtyard converted for the purpose in recent times. It was frequented by Dr Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Yeats, Wilde, Voltaire and Thackeray. Charles Dickens, known to use the establishment frequently, referred to it in A Tale of Two Cities. Not a huge range of beers but, at around £2.20 a pint, who's arguing? The food is simple pub grub but well cooked and very reasonably priced. A little gem well worth seeking out especially during the day as it gets packed once the offices start to turn out in the early evening.

The main bar is so dimly lit I had difficulty counting out my change to pay for my pint but once the eyes became accustomed there are lots of old features of interest including a few portrait paintings. Over the door to the bar adjacent to the corridor hatch it says in faded writing "Gentlemen Only in this Bar". I would doubt that rule is still upheld today! The Chop Room and Cheshire Bar were both locked on Tuesday afternoon but as the fire was lit in the Chop Room and tables set I suppose the room had been hired. Nevertheless the cellar bar and its catacomb like passages were open. The floors are stone flagged down here and the ceiling beams are exposed. There is a seperate bar in this area but this too was closed at the time. The spiral stair leading down is quite treacherous and the headroom is limited, be warned. There is a glass fronted case on Wine Office Court, the alley leading to the entrance, containing pub menus from 1928. The signature dish was rump steak, kidney, lark and oyster pudding, known as Ye Famous Pudding. Nowadays you have to make do with steak and kidney or steak and ale presumably down to a shortage of larks. As said by others the beer choice won't drag you in here even if it is cheap at £2.05 but for the history and the experience it is a must visit pub.

I have mixed feelings about this pub, but usually because I get dragged in there on an early eveing crawl when it is usually crammed, standing room only and not a totally comfortable place to drink. But was back in the other day in mid afternoon and managed to get a place in the Chop room and was able to experience the full pleasure of having a pint in this piece of history. So will fully agree with previous viewers, probably not the place to dwell for an evening (unless you've hired one of the top rooms), but a must visit for a great piece of London pub history if you haven't been before.