Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, London

If walls could talk, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese would have quite the barroom story to tell鈥攁nd probably a few too many footnotes. Part of the Fleet Street setting, this legendary London pub has been keeping glasses full and conversations flowing since 1538. That鈥檚 right鈥攂efore Shakespeare picked up a quill, this place was pouring pints. Rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, it still boasts cellars older than an average European country.

Literary heavyweights flocked here like moths to an ale-soaked flame. Samuel Johnson, Mark Twain, G.K. Chesterton, George Orwell, and Charles Dickens all bellied up to the bar鈥攖hough not all at once, that would鈥檝e been chaos. The atmosphere? Think cozy wood panels, floors strewn with sawdust, and a mysterious maze of monk-era cellars underneath. It once was a monastery, which explains the labyrinth鈥攁nd perhaps the lingering sense of guilt after your third pint.

Dickens himself gave it a name-drop in A Tale of Two Cities, when Sydney Carton drags Charles Darnay to a tavern for a restorative meal after a courtroom close call. That tavern鈥擲trong odds it was "the Cheese."

Now owned by Sam Smith鈥檚 Old Brewery, this time-traveling pub still serves up proper pints and solid meals with a side of history. So if you're craving a drink in the dim glow of literary ghosts鈥攐r just want to sit where Dickens might鈥檝e nursed a hangover鈥攑ull up a chair. Just don鈥檛 get lost in the cellars.

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Sight Name: Ye Olde Chesire Cheese
Sight Location: London, England (See walking tours in London)
Sight Type: Food/Drink
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

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