Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, generations of my family have had a few pints there. The dining room and basement areas are so authenticity old, the history just washes over you.

Kiwi here. I worked the bar at the George for about 6 months around 1980 when having my northern hemisphere ramble aged about 30. Past 70 now. Fond memories.

As an American tourist from California, I have had the pleasure of visiting your top 2 pubs, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and the George Inn. I found the Chesire Cheese to be overrun with tourists like me. The George Inn was my favorite because of being able to really enjoy history just emanating from the walls and floors. The stories of ghosts in the cellar Dickens and Shakespeare (possible) connections all add to the feeling of traveling back in time.

My "lucky" guess was the George Inn. I remember going there for drinks with Harriet Harmon before she was an MP. The pub is actually quite large and IMHO very authentic.

I'm fortunate to have had a pint and some fish and chips in the cellar of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. Absolutely beautiful. The energy is present within! Mind your head! 🍻 😉

I grew up in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe, had many a pint in the Mayflower and the Blacksmiths Arms in Rotherhithe Street is another good old pub. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a fantastic pub to visit especially in the winter. Although I’m not sure how old it is, The Inn of Court in Holborn is another good pub. The landlord is a real gent, if he’s behind the bar he clocks you as soon as you walk in and straight away asks what you want, unlike some pubs where you can stand there unnoticed for five minutes before getting served.

Love all these places but the old Cheshire Cheese for me is the favourite because of the vaulted cellars. Great video summary and research. Many thanks.

You have the most-pleasant voice on the Internet. I wish I could have your voice on my GPS directions. ☺ Keep up the great work, Katie.

I spent far more time than any person reasonably should trying to get to the bottom of this question (including a visit to the London Metropolitan Archives to try and find old licensing records) and broadly agree with your conclusions here. For a long time I was a firm believer that the Seven Stars, and its purported foundation date of 1602, was the oldest in London, using similar criteria that you applied here (that it had to be substantially still the same building etc) - and indeed it had all the ingredients, being just beyond the reaches of the great fire of London, and on the north side of Carey Street where it wouldn't have been demolished when the Royal Courts of Justice were built (as several other pubs on the street were) and similarly avoided the significant clearances in the area when Kingsway was built in the early 1900s. The Seven Stars for a long time seemed to be the only extant London pub from the 17th century without a clear record of it having burnt down or been demolished and rebuilt or whatever, and it seemed plausible a pub might have survived like that clinging onto the edge of one of the venerable inns of court. Alas though ultimately old maps and records from Lincoln's Inn seemed to show Carey Street wasn't laid out until the 1680s - the area to the south of Lincoln's Inn was just fields before that - which is probably why Pevsner said it couldn't have been built before then. In fact that development was specifically 1682, and it seems pretty likely the talk of the Seven Stars being established in 1602 (which I couldn't find any other source for) was just a typo - an 8 mistaken for a 0. It's a great pub though, so much character thanks to its wonderfully unique landlady today, Roxy Beaujolais. Similarly the age of the George is always a source of disappointment - the original building survived the great fire of London by virtue of being south of the river, only to burn down 10 years later in a fire that swept across Southwark. Still, 1676 really isn't bad for London, and it's still a beautiful building to behold.

Thank you for this Katie. We did the Thames Rockets the other weekend and they said the Anchor Bankside (34 Park St, London SE1 9EF) was the oldest 😂

I visited the Prospect of Whitby in July 2022, very interesting spot, especially the noose over the river to warn the pirates to stay away.

crossing the road to get into the Spaniard's Inn is a challenge that few are brave enough to attempt or lucky enough to complete

Lived and worked in London for many years, used to go to Lamb and Flag and Ye Old Cheshire Cheese, worked very close by. Lovely historic places, also been in some of the others such as Seven Stars mentioned.

Thank you so much for making your videos, they're such fun, and you've created the most lovely channel.

Great video, Katie. Thanks for sharing.

I was getting tense that there was no mention of Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese but glad to see it considered in the final round! Many happy Friday lunches spent in there in the past that probably went on longer than they should have done!

I absolutely love this kind of content!! New places to visit despite having toured London SO many times.

I thoroughly enjoyed that, Katie! Looking forward to checking a few of those out, especially the George in Southwark!

Been following you for a year or so on Twitter. So lovely to hear your voice!

Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is fantastic. Can't recommend visiting it enough. Great work!

Lovely videos and great delivery. Expresses a great love of the greatest capital in the world! Would love to see an exploration of the Hawksmoor churches.

Fantastic, really loved this historical vlog. So so interesting & I’m itching to get started on the pub crawl, taking them all in 🍺

Looks like I will have to add the Seven Stars to our next pub crawl around the City.

Oh also the cellars under The Flask in Highgate are reportedly pretty old. It's still used as the beer cellar.

Brilliant as always, Katie. My favourite one is the George.

I love The George Inn! Enjoyed the video - definitely worth a trip to visit some of those!

Great video. I might need to visit more of these pubs the next time I am in London.

A well thought-out and well presented video; thanks!

I am Canadian, and visited London several years back. I was of the belief that the "The Cock" pub in Kilburn was one of the oldest from the 1430's. Had lunch at the "Spaniard Inn." Beautiful old world charm, including a dog and cat that chased each other around the pub.

Love this stuff...thank you !

Great video, my favourite pub is the grapes in Narrow St ;-)

I'm surprised that most of these are reletively "Modern" by British standards? I supose the "Great Fire" and re-development by the Luftwaffe didn't help? Been to most of these wonderful venues on my annual London crawls, my personal favourite of these is the "Old Mitre" in Cambridgeshire! No longer true today but some will have to look that reference up? You say that the Wine bar doesn't count? I'm surprised as the village where I now live had a plethora of "Ale Houses", two hundred years ago to cater for the coaches that passed through, some of which later became pubs and Inns. The local historians seem date them from when they were just Ale Houses only selling their own home brew?

This videos are making me want to visit London big time. City of my birth, but entirely raised in one of the newest states in the US, so anything older than Elvis is ancient to me.

The George Inn, Borough is shown on a map of 1542 in the Duchy of Lancaster archive and known to predate that. In the Great Fire of Southwark of 1676 it was certainly burnt, no doubt rebuilt shortly after, but I look at the thickness of the ground floor walls and wonder if it was actually a refurbishment of the original, mediaeval, structure rather than a completely 'new' building. I am a resident of Borough and now it well. As for the Seven Stars, this is clearly adapted to the curtilage of the Searle's buildings of New Square, Lincoln's Inn, of which I have been a member for 40 years, hence its narrowness. Searle's buildings were erected from 1680 -90 so creating the plot for it' along with the other neighbouring narrow structures on Carey Street.

I'm in London every year, visiting from Canada. I've been in every one of these except for the Lamb & Flag. Have to visit when I'm there again this coming May. I like them all.

Loved this Katie. We have frequented a fair few of those. I think the George Inn and Cheshire Cheese are my favourites out of these. Still need to do some homework though and check up on the others! Thanks so much for sharing x

Good idea, but not all on the same day! Lamb & Flag is one of my favourite pubs in London, Spaniards is good and reputed to be a haunt of Highwaymen.The Prospect is a great pub on the river and is worth a visit as is The George, a real good place to visit after the Globe Theater facsimile.

Love a pub with History

I thought you might mention The Blackfriar but I looked it up myself and it looks like it was built about 1875 but I'm sure the Friars were busy brewing long before that. I wasn't surprised to see the Mitre, my occasional local when I was working on the edge of Holborn Circus. As usual, a very interesting and well informed presentation Katie.

Having followed your advice previously to explore I think it only right to add some of these to my list of places to visit on my trips to the smoke!

Thanks Katie not on the list as it’s too new but The Grapes in Wapping is a great pub, maybe a segue into a video Thames side pubs

For me my favourite of the ‘old’ pubs is the Mitre, the hidden location and the compact, wooden lined interior makes you think this is what ancient pubs should be like.

The Grapes in Narrow St

Had a great time at the bag o nails pub

Although I knew it wasn't authentically old I do like the Cittie of Yorke on High Holborn. It has a lovely feel to it and I like that you have all the separate booths you can sit in. Plus the beer is pretty cheap for London.

I grew up living above the Two Chairmen, in Warwick House St, just off Trafalgar Square. This was from the 1600’s but, l found on a recent visit that it’s been turned into flats!

Fab vlog & super interesting

no mileage for the Prospect of Whitby? Very interesting and well put together video. Many thanks. Tom (from France)

Great video. I really like the Lamb and Flag.

I love a good pub

Been to 2 of the ones mentioned, The George and Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. I prefer the former mostly because of the outside to be honest. Great place to drink on a warm summer night... or day.

I have visited few my fav is the Prospect of Whitby just love the view.

If it’s still around, The Hope & Anchor is one I always wanted to visit. Plus, I was always fascinated with pubs no longer there like The Speakeasy or Bag O’Nails for their places in Rock N Roll History.

The Dove Inn on the river in Hammersmith - thought thwir front bar was meant to be pretty old!

The Fleet Street pub crawl used to offer darts in every pub when a working newspaper street , with a great pint of Samuel Smiths at the Cheshire Cheese . As a surveyor it really is difficult to date any of these pubs especially after being drunk in all of them , and probably my favourite when living in East London decades ago and being a real ale fan in the 70s and 80s , back then it would have been a toss up between The George as it often had reenactors playing in the courtyard or The Cheese as I believe it was the only outlet of Sammy Smiths in London as the only other outlet for this fine beer at that time , the Chesham Arms at Homerton is not old enough . The Old Hall nearby is worth a visit . I doubt if you would find a dart board in any of the pubs in Fleet St. now !

My Auntie was the landlady of the Portobello Star for 30 years and I keep asking her to write a memoir or record some old stories cause some of them are so funny!! 😎

Very interesting video. I've been in some of these pubs as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, The George Inn, Prospect Of Whitby, The Lamb & Flag. But what do you think about The Dove in Hammersmith and Ye Olde Mitre Inne est. 1636 in Barnet?

Thank you for this review - what about The Grapes pub - allegedly 500 years old?

Thanks Katie. Some very interesting information there. Goes to show that appearances can be deceptive. One thing I also wondered, is how long the pub that is within the Tower Of London has been there, i.e. the pub used by the yeoman warders.

My favourites are Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and The George!

i like the george and many of the others mentioned - while its not one the oldest the blackfriars is one hell of an experience

What about The Flask in Highgate? It's an old drover's inn, and I recall it as being quite old.

The George is a special pub (and did Shakespeare visit ?), but I favour the Lamb and Flag, not only for it's age and character - but it is a Fullers pub serving the best beer in the world - London Pride !! (likewise the Mitre is a great little pub too). I may have to double check some of these pubs when possible ...... (and I do have a soft spot for the Dove in Hammersmith)

Well done for this one Katie. Probably the best and most honest assessment I've heard of London's historic pubs. It only takes a tiny little part of the pub, even just the name for it to claim to be the oldest. From my research I believe the rather unpretentious Seven Stars to be a very strong contender.

Hey Kate, what about "The Ten Bells", at the corner between Commercial Street and Fournier Street? It claims to be established in 1666 (so I guess just after the big fire). I was kind of expecting this pub to be mentioned in your video.

Thanks so much for doing this. From your TikTok fan

Nice video

Is The Druid's Head in Kingston worth a mention?

It's got to be The George off Borough High Street all the way. I first visited it on my 14th birthday (hrrrrumph years ago). There used to be a stage at the end of the alley where Shakespearian plays were performed.

The Old Spotted Dog was my favourite pub, but I don't know why it closed down. East London is getting derelict

Fascinating and funny to think of all the times I almost feel "tricked" 😄...dont mention The Jerusalem Tavern in Farringdon that proudly states 1720 but actually wasnt a pub until 1990s 😂

My local pub was built in 1180.

The red lion pub in Westminster, next to parliament must be in contention for the title. Cheers

What an excellent video. I agree with your conclusions, and I can honestly say I have been in most of the establishments listed - for scientific reasons obviously. However, you failed to mention the Angel in Rotherhithe? This I think is on an old established site, but the building is probably 18th century. Cheers Bob

The Dove in Chiswick is pretty old .

Hi, on a visit to London many many years ago, i went to a pub with a friend that was supposed to be made up from bits of the Spanish Armada, for the life of me cant think of the name , can you help with any details, thanks

Algun dia podre vicitarlo

I worked around the corner from the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a few years. It was always our go to pub on Fleet Street from that job. To me it IS the oldest pub in London. I never believed in Science anyway....

Back in 2018 myself and some friends took a Friday off, as most of these are closed on the weekend. Dressed up as city boys. And crawled some of the pubs with a claim. Here’s where we went.. The George Anchor Bankside Jamaica wine house el vino The old wine shades Ye Olde Watling The Viaduct Tavern Ye Old Mitre Cittie of Yorke The Old Bell Tavern Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Ye Olde Cock Tavern The Old Bank Of England The Seven Stars The White Hart Lamb & Flag (didn’t get here before closing)

What about the Birdcage Columbia road, built 1601

I want to see the inside !

Hoping to head to London city in Sept to visit the Harry Potter studio tour for my daughters 13th birthday. Not historical- but what would you recommend us to take her to? She’s autistic, so it can’t be too overwhelming in terms of crowding. I was thinking London eye and possibly Madame T’s? Anything else that we should consider? Coming from Loch Lomond in Scotland so not regular visitors to London

Why no mention of the Town of Ramsgate in Wapping?

Wot abaht vee old Jampot just orf Fredneedle Street, aka the Jamaica Tavern.....as I recall a 17th century establishment?

this is a good video very informative, well done, pity the audio is poor quality

The Coal Hole on the Strand?

What about the Prospect of Whitby in Wapping?!!

Thankyou for that wonderful virtual tour :) ps “Ye” is actually pronounced “The”.

What about the hand and shears in clothfair???

Ship Tavern?

Kings and Queens of England since 1066.

Great and very detailed video Katie. I love seeing people's reaction when I take them into the Cheshire Cheese! I remember the Tipperary across the street has a claim to be older, how does that one fit your criteria?

I spent some time in the Old Cheddar Cheese (Fleet Street). I Know after the great fire above ground it was rebuilt ,... but below the surface the cellar area was a drinking place for the Monks living there in the 12th. Century...comments please!

They used to hang pirates from gibbets outside the pub(prospect of whitby) . An exercise poorly lacking due to modern health and safety standards!

Good one! Been to the Mitre, so I will hoping for that. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese I never took seriously as it seemed too touristy. And as far as coaching inns in London I distinctly remember one in Barnes, I’m pretty sure. But I don’t know if you count that as London.

My vote goes with the George as best of the oldest

Red lion at Aldgate ?

I do like the Gun

Ye Olde Watling claims to be built in 1668

Sorry to be pedantic, but the "Y" on "Ye Olde" is not a "Y", it's a "Þ" (thorn), and it's pronounced "TH". Thus "Ye Olde" should be pronounced "The Olde", which is something that you might want to mention to tourists when you take them to "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese". :-)