Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Fleet Street, EC4

I can't believe its taken me so long to get round to visiting this place - its a London legend really. Split-levelled, historic and totally unique, its a real treat visiting this place for a first time. We grabbed a pew in the basement, which was not as cold in December as you might think, and the place was unsurprisingly busy on a saturday afternoon. The only word of warning I would pass on to newcomers is this though: mind your head!

I doubt whether this pub has changed much over the past 350 years or so since it was rebuilt soon after the Great Fire in 1666 – except I suppose for the addition of some more drinking space at the rear, and the cellar bar. The main rooms – i.e. the Chop Room on the left, and the small bar on the right as you enter really do have the aura of age about them. There certainly haven’t been any changes since Roger’s review back in 2005, except that the late Polly the parrot has been removed from the Chop Room to perch at the top of the bar back in the small bar on the right. I wouldn’t bother visiting this pub for the ale selection – unless you are a fan of Sam Smith’s beer – but it is a must visit pub on any tour of London’s most historic pubs.

Randomness Guide to London - Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese entry

Randomness Guide to London - Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese entry

One of the most famous and historic pubs in London but whilst the prices are cheap, the Sam Smiths beers are to many an acquired taste. Fortunately they have the Old Brewery Bitter on hand pump unlike several other Sam Smiths pubs in Central Oondon. From the outside, the pub appears nothing special and you could easily walk straight past. The entrance is down a narrow alleyway and the front door opens into a small corridor. The main bar is to the right and is a real treat - like stepping back 200 years, all musty and dimly lit. You almost expect Pepys or Dickens to be plonked in the corner musing over the papers and your beer to be served up in a pewter tankard by some busty wench of a barmaid but you will more likely get it from a young Aussie on a working holiday! There is a more recently added drinking area towards the back but this does not detract from the pubs atmosphere. The other side of the narrow corridor is the restaurant overlooked by the stuffed remains of the original Polly the parrot, a pub pet so well known that it filled the obitury columns on both sides of the Atlantic when she died (helped by the fact that the pub was in the heart of Fleet Street and would have been frequented by journalists by the dozen). Downstairs is a never ending maze of underground rooms and vaulted tunnels, part of what was a 13th century monastary. It is fair to say that it can be a bit touristy but whenever I have visited, there has been a good mix of office workers as well. A definate must for anyone in the area and well worth making a special journey (there are 4 or 5 excellent pubs along Fleet Street/Strand so the "Cheese" makes an excellent addition to a pub crawl if you don't fancy an evening on Sam Smiths beers.

This is a historic pub that is worth a visit at least once and Sam Smiths fans will love it and be glad to find OBB on draught. The walk to the gents is a little treacherous, damn those short arsed ancestors!