It is essential to visit a pub when visiting London, preferably one steeped in history.
When we popped in yesterday a coal fire was smouldering in the hearth adding to the atmosphere. You half expected to see Dickens sitting in the corner as he often did and he alluded to in "A tale of Two Cities". He was just one of many great literary figures who frequented this pub, Twain, Goldsmith, Tennyson and Dr Johnson were some of the others who took a tipple at this establishment.
As with many of London's old establishments this one has its ghost story too. In a tale told in 1680 a midwife haunted the house until the new residents were induced to dig up the bones of the illegtiimate children she had "done away with" and buried in the cellar. Probably just a fantastical story, but gets better after a couple of beers.
