This website is currently in beta. If you wish to go back to the current site please click here. To provide feedback or find out more about this site, please click here.
This Pub is Temporarily Closed
Reported CLOSED. Notices in the windows saying 'closed for a refurb under new management'.
It is believed that this venue will reopen on 1st October 2024 under direct Shepherd Neame operation.
Previous description follows.
After a period of openings and closures, Shepherd Neame sub-leased the site to a new operator and it again reopened at the end of September 2022, operated by Blighty Pub Company. The pub is split over three levels and it is intended to have wine tasting evenings in the cellar, and there is restaurant upstairs. A members-only club has also been launched with access to a range of discounts, and private events.
Bar snacks are available through the day, and the restaurant upstairs "is modelled on a classic ‘greasy spoon’ cafe, with interiors inspired by 80s and 90s pop culture." The restaurant is a separate operation under the name "Only Food and Courses" paying homage to the "Del Boy" TV series, and has its own website.
Note restricted opening hours as at early 2024. It has also been reported that this venue no longer sells cask ale. Further updates welcome.
Historic Interest
The pub was spot-listed Grade II in December 2015, Historic England list entry no. 1431970. A pub of this name has existed on this site since at least 1791. The present small bar (with basement), not far from the Temple, Aldwych and the Royal Courts of Justice, was designed by the great pub architect Nowell Parr for the Style & Winch brewery and built in 1928 in a dark Tudor style. The pub may be regularly confused (by bemused visitors) with the rather more famous Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese - which is further towards the City on Fleet Street!
Three star - A pub interior of outstanding national historic importance
Listed status: II
The pub's public layout over three floors - ground floor bar; lower ground floor lounge; and first floor dining room - is little altered with quality fittings such as original bar-backs, fielded panelling on walls, glazed screening, and Tudor-style arch decoration so typical of Nowell Parr.
Built of brick in neo-Georgian style in 1928 by architect T H Nowell Parr for the Style & Winch Brewery with an attractive series of curved windows.
On the ground floor is the main bar which was originally two small rooms - a public bar on the right and saloon bar on the left, with the inner left-hand door still retaining a ‘Saloon’ brass plate. The room has fielded panelling on the walls and a panelled bar counter with plain pilasters. There are two bar-backs of three bays each made of carved oak, inset with leaded mirror panels, supported by pilasters with detailed carved decoration, including barley twists, and there's a Tudor arch-headed doorway between the two sections of the servery. On the right near the bar counter is an elaborate fielded panelled cover and door behind it concealing a cask lift. As the cellar is two storeys below ground we have the most unusual arrangement of casks of beer being lowered mechanically rather than being 'dropped'.
A staircase near the left hand door is enclosed by marvellous screening with leaded glazed panels with trademark Nowell Parr Tudor-style arched frames, and leads down to what was originally the lounge bar. This room retains the original counter and bar-back which is of a similar design to that in the main bar with six visible bays which have leaded mirror panels. The walls have fielded panelling to two-thirds height, as does the small dining room on the first floor which also retains the original timber fireplace surround.
Built of brick in neo-Georgian style in 1928 by architect T H Nowell Parr for the Style & Winch Brewery with an attractive series of curved windows. The compact building consists of six floors - cellar; lower ground-floor lounge bar; ground floor-bar and gents'; first-floor dining room and ladies'; living accommodation and office on the second floor; and the kitchen and further bedrooms on the third floor - all connected by a dumb waiter. Its public layout over three floors is little altered with quality fittings. It is clear from the original plans that serving food dates back to the pub’s opening.
On the ground floor is the main bar which was originally two small rooms - a public bar on the right and saloon bar on the left. If you look on the counter front you will see there are actually two bar counters slightly off-set showing where the partition that originally separated the rooms was situated. The inner left-hand door still retains a ‘Saloon’ brass plate. The room has fielded panelling to three-quarter height (some to full height) and a panelled bar counter with plain pilasters. There are two bar-backs of three bays each made of carved oak, inset with leaded mirror panels, supported by pilasters with detailed carved decoration, including barley twists. Fridges have replaced the left-hand lower shelving but that on the right remains. There is a Tudor arch-headed doorway between the two sections. The pot-shelf above the bar counter is modern.
On the right near the bar counter is an elaborate fielded panelled cover with door behind which is a cask lift. As the cellar is two storeys below ground casks of beer are not ‘dropped’ but are lowered mechanically – we are not aware of another similar cask lift in a pub.
A staircase leads from the ground floor near the left hand door to the lower ground floor – above you as you descend there is a figure ‘3. Originally the lounge bar, it retains the original counter but it has been shortened on the left side by three to four feet. The bar-back is of a similar design to that in the main bar with six visible bays and a shorter one on the right and runs the width of the room although part on the left-hand side is obscured by a dart board case. The bays have leaded mirror panels and there are three pediments. Lower shelving has been lost by insertion of fridges and new cupboards. The walls have fielded panelling to two-thirds height.
A staircase ahead of the saloon bar front door has a fielded panelled dado and moulded stair-rail. The small dining room on the first floor retains the original timber fireplace surround and all walls are fronted with fielded panelling to two-thirds height. The bar fittings are modern additions.
The gents’ on the ground floor retains two original urinals but the toilet area was increased in size in 1976, as was the ladies' toilet upstairs.
Cheshire Cheese, London