This feature first appeared in July 2024 on Londonist: Time Machine, our much-praised history newsletter. To be the first to read new history features like this, sign up for free here.
Blunder with me, if you will, on a pub crawl for the ages. We’re heading out on a beer-soaked journey around some of London’s most historic boozers. But this is no random selection of ye olde inns. Instead, we’re going to try and visit one pub for every century, from Tudor times onwards. Prepare to embark on a temporal swash, a carousing chronology, as we navigate our time machine through half a millennium of pub history… It’s the Time Traveller’s Pub Crawl!
Route length: 2.2km (1.4 miles). The optimal route makes use of the networks of passages around Fleet Street and Strand. These are ponderous to describe so if you do the pub crawl in real life, you might want to use your phone or A-Z to navigate between pubs. On the other hand, it’s fun to get a bit lost now and then.
16th Century: Ye Olde Mitre
1 Ely Court, Ely Place, EC1N 6SJ
Our cross-town jirble begins with a bit of a cheat. Ye Olde Mitre claims to be from 1546, but the fabric of the building is almost all from the 18th. So says Historic England. Then again, a wooden support by the window in the front bar reckons to be a cherry tree from the 16th century — a cherry tree that Elizabeth I danced around, according to one of those heartwarming yet “citation needed” legends.
To be honest, you won’t care how old the place is. With its cosy wooden interior and quiet tucked away location, this is one of those unmissable London pubs that should be enjoyed at every opportunity — even if it is no more Tudor than Cate Blanchett.
Head south via New Fetter Lane. Then, either wiggle through the warren of passages, or continue to Fleet Street and turn left, to reach…
17th Century: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
145 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BP
Well, we have to come here, don’t we? It’s the quintessential ye olde London pub. The Cheese has everything: roaring winter fires, a cosy pie room, a “Dickens woz ere” history, a basement room that leads to a sub-basement room that leads to a sub-sub-basement bar. All it lacks is windows, and that is A Good Thing.
The Cheese was rebuilt the year after the Great Fire of 1666, and it looks every inch its age. Famously, a board outside displays a list of all the monarchs who’ve reigned in the centuries since — and Charles III has now finally been added after quite the delay.
While the many basements and backrooms are charming, my favourite seat is in the front bar by the fire. Here you can see the stuffed remains of Polly the Parrot, a minor celebrity in the early decades of the 20th century. One of the most peculiar meetings in London’s history took place in the pub in 1905, when Polly was introduced to Jumbo the baby elephant. The pint-sized pachyderm then sat in Dr Johnson’s old chair and gamely signed the visitor’s book.
Cross Fleet Street and head west until you’re opposite the Law Courts. Here you’ll find…
18th Century: The George (1723)
If you’re looking for a Georgian pub, then you might as well pick one named after a George. This one originally opened as a coffee house in 1723, which would suggest it’s saluting the then-reigning George I. However, I distinctly remember that the pub once carried a portrait of George III over the main window — just above those police riders’ heads. So who knows?
18th century it might be, but the pub has a cod-medieval theme running throughout. The mock-Tudor half-timbering continues inside, although the effect has been muted by a recent refurb. Look out, too, for the pair of golden monks who bookend the main window. This is a pub that draws from several centuries at the same time. A curious George.
Head up the passage called Clement’s Inn into the London School of Economics (LSE) campus. Here, you’ll find…
19th Century: Ye Olde White Horse
London has many fine Victorian pubs. I could have made you slog a little farther north to the Princess Louise or The Lamb, both of which have exquisite 19th century interiors (though mostly pastiche in the Louise’s case). But let’s call in at this much-overlooked pub in the middle of LSE’s campus.
Ye Olde White Horse was probably opened in the first decade of the 19th century. It’s a very rare survivor in these parts. Much of the neighbourhood was cleared away in the early 20th century during construction of Kingsway and Aldwych, or later trampled by LSE. For this reason alone, it should be cherished.
The inside is as cosy and calm as the frontage suggests. Aside from the odd glowing beer tap, the place is unchanged in decades. I imagine most 19th century pubs looked a bit like this, rather than the OTT brass, glass and partitioned-by-class of the better known Victorian boozers. Ye Olde White Horse is unpretentious, understated and lacking in any flamboyance. For those reasons it seldom gets into the guide books. You’re guaranteed a local crowd, which is to say a mix of barristers, LSE professors and the more grounded species of student.
Curl your way around the Aldwych down to Strand, to enter…
20th Century: The Coal Hole
91-92 Strand, WC2R 0DW
It may come as a surprise to learn that the Coal Hole was built in 1903. It feels much older. Architect TE Collcutt crafted this corner house with the very best materials, as befits a pub attached to The Savoy. Step over the mosaic floor to reach the exquisitely carved bar, but don’t be distracted by the semi-nude grape pickers on the decorative frieze. It’s that kind of place. The Coal Hole is such a treasure house that CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group describe it as “A pub interior of very special national historic interest.” Try, if you can, to sit up on the mezzanine level, which offers memorable views of the whole glorious place. The basement bar is also worth a look, though not as richly decorated as above.
When you’re done in the pub, take a brief amble down the hill to see the famous gas lamp of Carting Lane, which was once (partly) powered by sewer fumes. Hence, Carting Lane is sometimes called Farting Lane. Well, it’s sometimes called that by me, anyway.
Cross over Strand and up any of the narrow passages to Maiden Lane.
21st Century: The Porterhouse
21-22 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7NA
We end as we began, with a bit of a cheat. The Porterhouse opened in the year 2000, which purists would contend was still, technically, the 20th century. However, it very much set the template for the mega-pubs of the coming decades with its sprawling layout and huge range of beers. It’s like an early glimpse of a BrewDog pub, but without the £££ and faux-edginess.
The Porterhouse has a mixed reputation. Some people dismiss it as a bit of a tourist pub, or dislike the number of sports screens. I’ve always been fond of the place. It is a dimly lit labyrinth, like a cave system made out of wood and then somehow installed in a ship’s engine room. Every visit (and there have been many) reveals a different room or balcony. It has a hundred beers to choose from. There is much to like. Just don’t arrange to meet a stranger here, or you’ll be seeking one another all evening.
That concludes the Time-Traveller's Pub Crawl. Cheers!
