Probably the most famous pub in the world, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of London’s few remaining 17th Century chophouses. The sawdust on the floor is changed twice daily, It is a pub and eating house offering unpretentious fare in wooden bays provided by high-backed church pews and served by waiters. The site formed part of the 13th century Carmelite monastery and since 1538 a pub has stood here. The medieval pub was rebuilt in about 1667 after the Great Fire of London in 1666.

“Yesterday, I looked in at the Garrick at lunchtime, took one glance of loathing at the mob, and went off to lunch by myself at the Cheshire Cheese.” PG Wodehouse, 1906

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is an historic gem of a pub on Fleet Street, on the edge of the City of London.  The pub was rebuilt in 1667 after the original one was burnt down by the Great Fire of London.  Over the past 355 years the Cheese has been frequented by numerous prominent literary figures: Dr Samuel Johnson, Mark Twain, W.B. Yeats and Charles Dickens, who even featured it in his novel A Tale of Two Cities.

The pub is a delightful labyrinth of different rooms: front bar, Chop House restaurant, Cheshire Bar, Cellar Bar, Williams Room and Johnson Bar to name but a few.

Its location, on Fleet Street in the heart of London’s publishing district, has made it the favourite meeting place of literary types, and much has been written about it for hundreds of years. The Chop Room is the traditional dining room where you can find a long oaken table at which Dr. Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Charles Dickens and others have dined over the years. Charles Dickens boasted of the food here as “a good plain meal with good wine.” Dr. Samuel Johnson, the author of the modem dictionary, lived a few steps away and his chair is in the pub. His house can be visited at the same time you visit the Cheese.
Oliver Goldsmith drank with him here and also lived in the next door Wine Office Court. Their experiences at the Cheese were described by Dickens as “Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese” in A Tale of Two Cities. Pictures and artifacts throughout the labyrinth of rooms portray the people, events and times that shaped this famous eating and drinking establishment.

Included is the iron knocker which is reputed to be the one taken from the door of Oliver Goldsmith’s house before it was demolished in 1830. Polly, the stuffed parrot, entertained princes, ambassadors and visitors from all over the world during the forty years she lived at the Cheese. Such was her fame that when she died in 1926, the news was broadcast by the BBC and obituary notices appeared in over 200 papers in all parts of the world. Private rooms are available. The 17th century Function Room has an impressive ceiling open right to the roof, with huge oak beams and rafters. It is equipped with a bar and dance floor and can be rented for wedding receptions, christenings, conferences, and children’s parties.

Nearest underground: Chancery Lane or Blackfriars. .