I recently received a most cryptic invitation asking me ‘whether I would like the Cheshire Cheese’. Sure! Never tried it but… Of course, when you have spent your childhood in France, you are bold about cheeses! I therefore confirmed…
Surprise! This invitation was not for a gourmet evening of Cheshire cheese; it was for a drink, or two, in one of London's oldest pubs: Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese.
A Grade II listed public house at 145 Fleet Street, initially set up in 1538, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire of 1666. The interior is made of flagstone floors, dark wood panelling, some considered to be original, and there is not a single right angle in the tiny rooms! The vaulted cellars are thought to belong to a 13th-century Carmelite monastery which once occupied the area. The entrance to this pub is situated in a narrow alleyway and is very discrete except for the names of all the monarchs who have reigned in England during the pub's time, written to the right of the door.
Once inside, you are literally ‘puzzled’ with the layout as it looks like a Cluedo board where you have to stoop your head and dive down the most amazing and cramped staircase to find out all the bar rooms.
The pub oozes history and literature as the walls are covered with plaques showing famous regulars such as Twain, Tennyson, Conan Doyle, Dr Johnson, The Rhymers' Club (a London-based poets, founded in 1890 by Yeats and Rhys) and even Voltaire! Charles Dickens was also a regular and mentioned the pub in a famous scene of 'A Tale of Two Cities': Sydney Carton invites Charles Darnay to dine in Fleet Street, ‘up a covered way, into a tavern’ for ‘a good plain dinner and good wine’.
who haunted the place until she induced the residents to dig up the bones of many dead children she had killed and buried there… At least, this is what a 1680 ballad called ‘A New Ballad of the Midwives Ghost’ tells…
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese truly encapsulates years of London history and tales. In this month of celebrations, stories about magic and with the help of a couple of beers, you may encounter the Spirit of Christmas in one of the tiny rooms…
Happy festive season!
Written by Florence Tilkens. Florence is Social Media and Marketing Manager at FOCUS.
For more information please visit www.focus-info.org
Should you wish to share your expat experiences in the UK, please contact us: office@focus-info.org
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