Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

The Sign of the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Somewhere along the line, we’ve set the goal of visiting each of the 10 pubs on this list, perhaps after our first experience with trying a pub on the list was so much fun. Admittedly, it’s a less saintly objective of visiting each of England’s cathedrals. Our November week in London allowed us to get to two more of these great pubs, including the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese at 145 Fleet Street.

The Cellar Bar at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Upon arrival at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, you discover that it was “rebuilt” in 1667. That’s because the original burned down in London’s Great Fire of 1666. There had been a pub in this spot at least since the early 1500’s. We’re glad they rebuilt, as has been quite a few other notable patrons through the years.

A respectable list of famous writers have hung out at the Cheshire Cheese since its rebuilding. It’s easy to understand why: the pub is located in the heart of London and is a mysterious, twisty maze of rooms spread over several levels. It’s actually hard to tell how far down into the ground you descend for the cellar bar, and you pass small, intimate rooms along the way. There are no windows on the way down, naturally, so all the light comes from what’s put there. In centuries past, pub-goers would have had to huddle around candles and lanterns to chat and enjoy each other’s company.

Those little groups have included the likes of Lord Alfred Tennyson, GK Chesterton, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. “The Rhymer’s Club” was a group of poets who met here, huddled around those flame lights, whose members numbered no less than the likes of William Butler Yeats. Mark Twain even visited the Cheshire Cheese, no doubt drawn by its reputation as a hangout for literary minds.

But the writer of most note to have enjoyed an ale and some conversation at the Cheshire Cheese is our next installment in our Famous Travelers series (tomorrow’s blog), and wonderfully appropriate for the holiday season: Charles Dickens.