Afternoon:
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Critic rating
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is slice of London history
29 Jan 2008
This pub is something of an institution on Fleet Street. In the heyday of the Street of Shame, you could regularly find the great and (occasionally) the good gathering here to do the business of Fleet Street.
Sadly (for some) those years are now over, but the history of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese actually goes back much further than recent decades. As the sign in the passageway attests, the pub was rebuilt just after the Great Fire of London and there's been a pub on this site for much longer than that.
Since Fleet Street's dispersal eastwards, tourists are now the pub's main customers, but that comes as no surprise - the pub oozes character and history: nooks and crannies abound, there are numerous large and small rooms (some with fireplaces) at different levels, dark wood on wall and ceiling, flagstone floors and there's not a right angle in the place.
The past clientele reads like a roll-call of literature - Dr. Johnson lived just around the corner, and scribes such as Voltaire, Dickens and Twain have all raised their drinking arms here.
Sam Smith's excellent beers add their own touch of quirkiness to the offer, topped off with traditional pub grub. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese neatly encapsulates the last few hundred years of London history in a single lunchtime - long may it last.
CLIENTELE: legal eagles, tourists and students
NEAREST STATION: City Thameslink station
PHONE NUMBER: 020 7353 6170
FEATURES: function room available
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (5)
At the urging of my parents who'd visited YOCC in 1976, I had dinner there when I visited London. We had an excellent time. The food was delicious and fresh. Most notable was Mike the manager who took time after the dining room closed to sit and have a drink with us and fill us in on some not so well known fact about this pub. I urge history buffs to visit there and do tell Mike I sent you!
- Patty Beauchene, Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA, 07/02/2008 18:45
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Went to the Old Cheshire Cheese recently for lunch with a friend. Was sadly disappointed in the food ; the ploughmans platter came with 3 blocks of rather dull cheese, some crackers, but no pickle in sight! The waiter seemed confused when we asked for some and was unable to provide any. Food is generally boring and served without much passion, which is a real shame, considering this is such a well-known pub on the famous Fleet Street.
- Lisa, London, UK, 03/02/2008 16:54
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The oldest part of the pub you see in the picture is fabulous - but I always thought the extensions added downstairs and at the back were a mistake. Commercially, I'm sure they make complete sense. But the pub lost a certain intimacy it once had. Must add that it used to be full of interesting journalists in the eighties but is now populated by loud and dull legal eagles and PR types. But that's Fleet Street these days.
- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK, 30/01/2008 09:31
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Yes, I like to take visitors to this place to sample an authentically old setting. If you enjoy discovering hidden gems you might wish to go in search of the Olde Mitre Tavern off Ely Place. It is relatively new (present building dates from 1772...), although it was established as a watering hole back in 1546. Tucked down a narrow alley, few people visiting Hatton Garden will be aware of its existence.
And speaking of narrow alleys, I was fortunate to be invited to "Two Brydges" when I first came to London 12 years ago, a private club down Brydges Place, off the bottom of St Martin's Lane. If this hadn't been pointed out to me, I'm fairly certain that to this day I would be unaware of this, the narrowest 'street' in London. Every time I walk down St Martin's Lane, I wonder if I would have noticed it unprompted.
- David Whittaker, Clapham, 29/01/2008 19:26
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I have been in London for 10 years now and only recently discovered this gem of a pub; full of history and quirkiness - the perfect antidote to all those soulless modern wine bars.
- Daniel, East London, 29/01/2008 10:32
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