It is hard to contemplate, but only a little over 200 years ago Greenwich was a fishing village, and, in season, one of the catches yielded up by the River Thames was whitebait. Nowadays the River Thames is not quite so prolific, but the Trafalgar Tavern is still the place in London to go and [...]

Ask a Greenwich resident to direct you to the best pub around and they will direct you to the Tolly, as the Richard I is affectionately known. Originally two 18th-century shops, one selling sweets and the other beer, the premises were acquired by the Tollemache and Cobbold Brewery of Ipswich and knocked together some time [...]

This handsome old house was originally named either The Spread Eagle & Crown or The Shippe (authorities differ), but changed its name in 1957 — ensuring its survival — to The Mayflower, in memory of Captain Christopher Jones. Jones was a Rotherhithe man, who moored his ship The Mayflower nearby prior to its departure to [...]

A lovely little backstreet boozer in a terrace of immaculate Georgian two-up-two-down, just to the rear of Waterloo East Station. The Kings Arms is a stylish operation and a wonderful example of the difference a little care and attention can make.

Pub names offer historians a fascinating window onto London’s social history, with names often reflecting local trades or popular figures of a certain time. This one was named after William Ewart Gladstone, the dominant personality in the Liberal Party from 1868-94, famed for his oratory and prime minister on four occasions; it is likely that [...]

Exclusivity always brings a certain enjoyment to any experience. It may come about as a result of selection (price, class, membership) or just happenstance. Frequently the best things in life are hard to find. George Orwell famously wrote about the perfect pub, which he called the Moon Under Water. The moon reflected in water is [...]

The Anchor Tap takes its name from the old Anchor Brewery, which, if you are standing on Tower Bridge facing south, is the joyously complicated building squeezed between the bridge and Butler’s Wharf. The Anchor was one of many Southwark breweries that clustered along the Thames from the days of Queen Elizabeth I.