Olde Cheshire Cheese
Encyclopedia
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is an old public house
in the City of London
, England
, located at 145 Fleet Street
, on Wine Office Court.
Cheshire Cheese is one of a number of pubs in London to have been rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire
of 1666. There has been a pub at this location since 1538. While there are several older pubs which have survived because they were beyond the reach of the fire, or like The Tipperary on the opposite side of Fleet Street because they were made of stone, this pub continues to attract interest due to the curious lack of natural lighting inside which generates its own gloomy charm.
Some of the interior wood panelling is nineteenth century, some older, perhaps original. The vaulted cellars are thought to belong to a 13th century Carmelite Monastery which once occupied the site. The entrance to this London pub is situated in a narrow alleyway and is very unassuming, yet once inside visitors will realise that the pub occupies a lot of floor space and has numerous bars and gloomy rooms. In winter, an open fireplace is used to keep the interior warm.
In the bar room are posted plaques showing famous people who were regulars.
The pub is currently operated by and tied to the Samuel Smith Brewery
.
, Mark Twain
, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
, G.K. Chesterton as well as Dr. Samuel Johnson
are all said to have been 'regulars'. However, there is no recorded evidence that Dr Johnson ever visited the pub, only that he lived close by, at 17 Gough Square
. At The Johnson Club supper, December 13, 1892, 'an eloquent gentleman, present, an Irish Ex MP, pointed out that when Dr Johnson acted on his famous suggestion "let us take a walk down Fleet Street" the Cheshire Cheese must of necessity have been included among his places of call.'
Charles Dickens
had been known to use the establishment frequently, and due to the pub's gloomy charm it is easy to imagine that Dickens modelled some of his darker characters there. The Cheshire Cheese Pub is famously alluded to in Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities
: following Charles Darnay
’s acquittal on charges of high treason, Sydney Carton
invites him to dine, "drawing his arm through his own" Sydney leads him to Fleet Street "up a covered way, into a tavern … where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine".
The Rhymers' Club
was a group of London-based poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys
. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894. They met at the Cheshire Cheese and in the 'Domino Room' of the Café Royal.[2]
According to the Betty Crocker
cookbook, both Dickens and Ben Jonson
dined on Welsh rarebit at this pub, despite the fact that the latter died almost a century before the dish is first known to have existed.
Boris Pilnyak
, a prominent Soviet writer, visited this pub during his stay in London in 1923. He later wrote a story entitled "Staryi syr," ("old cheese" in Russian) a part of which takes place in the Cheshire Cheese Pub.
There is a chapter devoted to the Cheshire Cheese and the 'Companions of the Cheshire Cheese' (W.B Yeats' poem 'The Grey Rock'1914) in 'That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power' by Jane Stanford.
A 1680 broadside ballad
called A New Ballad of the Midwives Ghost tells a fantastical story of how a midwife haunted the house where she died until she was able to induce the new residents there to dig up the bones of some bastard children she had made away with and buried there. The final lines of the ballad insist upon the veracity of the tale and even that the children's bones may be seen for proof displayed at the Cheshire Cheese.
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, located at 145 Fleet Street
Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in central London, United Kingdom, named after the River Fleet, a stream that now flows underground. It was the home of the British press until the 1980s...
, on Wine Office Court.
Age
Ye OldeYe Olde
Ye Olde is a pseudo-Early Modern English stock prefix, used anachronistically, suggestive of a Deep England feel.A typical example would be Ye Olde English Pubbe or similar names of theme pubs....
Cheshire Cheese is one of a number of pubs in London to have been rebuilt shortly after the Great Fire
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
of 1666. There has been a pub at this location since 1538. While there are several older pubs which have survived because they were beyond the reach of the fire, or like The Tipperary on the opposite side of Fleet Street because they were made of stone, this pub continues to attract interest due to the curious lack of natural lighting inside which generates its own gloomy charm.
Some of the interior wood panelling is nineteenth century, some older, perhaps original. The vaulted cellars are thought to belong to a 13th century Carmelite Monastery which once occupied the site. The entrance to this London pub is situated in a narrow alleyway and is very unassuming, yet once inside visitors will realise that the pub occupies a lot of floor space and has numerous bars and gloomy rooms. In winter, an open fireplace is used to keep the interior warm.
In the bar room are posted plaques showing famous people who were regulars.
The pub is currently operated by and tied to the Samuel Smith Brewery
Samuel Smith Brewery
Samuel Smith's Old Brewery, popularly known as Samuel Smith's or Sam Smith's, is an independent brewery in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, England. It is Yorkshire's oldest brewery, founded in 1758.-History:...
.
Literary associations
There are several famous literary figures associated with the place: Oliver GoldsmithOliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...
, Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
, G.K. Chesterton as well as Dr. Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
are all said to have been 'regulars'. However, there is no recorded evidence that Dr Johnson ever visited the pub, only that he lived close by, at 17 Gough Square
Dr Johnson's House
Dr. Johnson's House in the City of London is a former home of the 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson. Built in 1700, it is a rare example of a house of its era which survives in the City of London...
. At The Johnson Club supper, December 13, 1892, 'an eloquent gentleman, present, an Irish Ex MP, pointed out that when Dr Johnson acted on his famous suggestion "let us take a walk down Fleet Street" the Cheshire Cheese must of necessity have been included among his places of call.'
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
had been known to use the establishment frequently, and due to the pub's gloomy charm it is easy to imagine that Dickens modelled some of his darker characters there. The Cheshire Cheese Pub is famously alluded to in Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities
A Tale of Two Cities is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature....
: following Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay
Charles Darnay, or Charles St. Evrémonde, is a fictional character in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.-Overview:A French aristocrat by birth, Darnay chooses to live in England because he cannot bear to be associated with the cruel injustices of the French social system...
’s acquittal on charges of high treason, Sydney Carton
Sydney Carton
Sydney Carton is the central character in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. He is a shrewd young Englishman and sometime junior to his fellow barrister C.J. Stryver. In the novel, he is seen to be a drunkard, self-indulgent and self-pitying because of his wasted life...
invites him to dine, "drawing his arm through his own" Sydney leads him to Fleet Street "up a covered way, into a tavern … where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine".
The Rhymers' Club
Rhymers' Club
The Rhymers' Club was a group of London-based poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894...
was a group of London-based poets, founded in 1890 by W. B. Yeats and Ernest Rhys
Ernest Rhys
Ernest Percival Rhys was an English writer, best known for his role as founding editor of the Everyman's Library series of affordable classics. He wrote essays, stories, poetry, novels and plays...
. Originally not much more than a dining club, it produced anthologies of poetry in 1892 and 1894. They met at the Cheshire Cheese and in the 'Domino Room' of the Café Royal.[2]
According to the Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker
Betty Crocker AKA: batter witch is a cultural icon, as well as brand name and trademark of American Fortune 500 corporation General Mills. The name was first developed by the Washburn Crosby Company in 1921 as a way to give a personalized response to consumer product questions. The name Betty was...
cookbook, both Dickens and Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
dined on Welsh rarebit at this pub, despite the fact that the latter died almost a century before the dish is first known to have existed.
Boris Pilnyak
Boris Pilnyak
Boris Pilnyak was a Russian author. Born Boris Andreyevich Vogau in Mozhaysk, he was a major supporter of anti-urbanism and a critic of mechanized society. These views often brought him into disfavor with Communist critics...
, a prominent Soviet writer, visited this pub during his stay in London in 1923. He later wrote a story entitled "Staryi syr," ("old cheese" in Russian) a part of which takes place in the Cheshire Cheese Pub.
There is a chapter devoted to the Cheshire Cheese and the 'Companions of the Cheshire Cheese' (W.B Yeats' poem 'The Grey Rock'1914) in 'That Irishman: The Life and Times of John O'Connor Power' by Jane Stanford.
A 1680 broadside ballad
Broadside
A broadside is the side of a ship; the battery of cannon on one side of a warship; or their simultaneous fire in naval warfare.-Age of Sail:...
called A New Ballad of the Midwives Ghost tells a fantastical story of how a midwife haunted the house where she died until she was able to induce the new residents there to dig up the bones of some bastard children she had made away with and buried there. The final lines of the ballad insist upon the veracity of the tale and even that the children's bones may be seen for proof displayed at the Cheshire Cheese.
External links
- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Review by City Pubs
- Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Review by pubs.com