LONDON’S TIMELESS PUBS
One thing that won’t change in future London is its historic pubs. The hostelries visited and often immortalized by the greats of English literature and art remain one of the city’s greatest charms.
The Prospect of Whitby
57 Wapping Wall
Without question, London’s best Thames-side pub, dating back to 1520. This is an ideal spot to watch the comings and goings on the river. Artists such as J. M. W. Turner used to sketch river life from this spot.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese
145 Fleet Street
For centuries, giants of English literature – including Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Samuel Johnson and P. G. Wodehouse – as well as many journalists have haunted this cosy landmark in the old newspaper quarter.
The George & Vulture
3 Castle Court
Ebenezer Scrooge consumes “a melancholy dinner” in this pub in Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, but the real version is a happy place for a pint and a bite. Dickens himself was a regular, and the tavern was saved from demolition by the author’s great-grandson, whose family are said still to come here every year on the Friday before Christmas to toast the great man.