Wharfinger: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
The pub located in the City, at 145 Fleet Street has been a fixture of London life since 1538 when it may have been called the Horn Tavern.
It was built on the site of a 13th century Carmelite monastery that still provides the vaulted cellars.
The tavern was burnt down in the Great Fire Of London, rebuilt in 1667 and opened as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Its unassuming entrance belies the wealth of covert bars and rooms.
Its situation close to the house of Dr Samuel Johnson has led to speculation that the great man of letters drank there but there is no evidence. However, its literary associations encompass equally renowned names including playwright Oliver Goldsmith, Mark Twain, Alfred Tennyson and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Charles Dickens may well have used the pub as a setting in A Tale Of Two Cities. Dickens writes of a journey "up a covered way, into a tavern where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine".
Polly the parrot, who lived at the pub from 1884-1926 is now stuffed and in place in the tap room.
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