The 10 Oldest Pubs in London

London's oldest pubs in London are not the ones with the most convincing signage. Half the "olde worlde" fronts on Fleet Street were rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666, and a fair few more went up again after the Blitz. What follows is a ranked list of the ten pubs with the strongest documented claim to real age, ordered from oldest to newest and backed by parish records, listed-building surveys and the pubs' own licensing history, not just a good story painted above the door. Expect low beams, uneven floors and at least one ghost story per stop. The Museum of London's own overview of the city's historic pubs backs several of these claims with the same caution about rebuilds and licence history.

1. The Guinea: Tiny Bar, Famous Steak Pie

Mayfair

Behind a narrow Mayfair frontage on Bruton Place, the Guinea sits on a site with recorded tavern use back to at least 1423, making its licensing history the oldest claim on this list even though the current building is a later rebuild. The name refers to the pre-decimal coin once charged for a pie here, a price that became a running joke among the Mayfair set who drank in it. It sits close enough to the historic core covered in our history of Westminster to make a natural add-on stop. It is now better known for a butcher's-quality steak pie than for its age, and the tiny bar area means standing room only most evenings; check before a Sunday visit, since weekend hours are limited. This is the first of ten stops covered in full, address by address, on the London Pub Map, if you'd rather have the whole route sorted before you set off.

Address: 30 Bruton Place, W1J 6NL
Nearest station: Green Park or Bond Street, both under ten minutes.

2. The Prospect of Whitby: Best Sunset Over the Thames

Wapping

Built in 1520 on the Thames foreshore at Wapping, the Prospect of Whitby claims to be the oldest riverside pub in London, though its own building has been rebuilt more than once after fires. What survives is the site and the 400-year licensing history, plus a genuinely old flagstone floor and a pewter-topped bar rescued from a demolished pub elsewhere in the East End. Judge Jeffreys, the "Hanging Judge," is said to have watched executions from the terrace, which is the reason to visit rather than the interior, which trades heavily on nautical bric-a-brac.

Address: 57 Wapping Wall, E1W 3SH
Nearest station: Wapping, on the Overground, seven minutes on foot.

3. Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese: Candlelit Cellar Bar

Fleet Street

Rebuilt in 1667, the year after the Great Fire, on a site with a documented tavern history stretching back to at least 1538. Samuel Johnson lived two doors down and is said to have been a regular; Dickens, Conan Doyle and Mark Twain all drank here too, and the pub leans into the connection more than most, with portraits and framed letters on nearly every wall. The vaulted cellar bar downstairs is the atmospheric choice over the ground-floor rooms, which can feel more like a museum gift shop than a pub at peak tourist hours, so go for the cellar and a pint of the pub's own bitter.

Address: 145 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BU
Nearest station: Blackfriars or Chancery Lane, both under ten minutes walk.

4. Ye Olde Mitre: A Secret Only Locals Know

Holborn

Tucked down Ely Court, an alley you would walk straight past without a tip, Ye Olde Mitre traces its licence back to 1546, built for the servants of the Bishops of Ely whose London palace once stood on this ground. The current building dates from 1772, but the licence and the site's connection to the Bishops' land have never lapsed, which is the strongest kind of continuity a historic pub can claim. A cherry tree stump behind the bar is said to mark where Elizabeth I once danced around a maypole with Sir Christopher Hatton. It is open weekdays only, closed weekends, so plan a lunchtime visit rather than a Saturday crawl, and settle into the snug at the back rather than the front bar, which fills fast with City workers after 5pm. It is exactly the kind of overlooked spot covered in our roundup of hidden gems near Westminster.

Address: 1 Ely Court, EC1N 6SJ
Nearest station: Chancery Lane, five minutes on foot.

5. Ye Olde Cock Tavern: Cosy Candlelit Corners

Fleet Street

Also on Fleet Street, and also rebuilt, though its story is more literal than most: the pub moved across the road, brick by brick, in 1887 to make way for a bank extension, carrying its carved chimneypiece and much of its original panelling with it. Records place a tavern on the original site back to 1549, making it one of the oldest licensed addresses in the City even after the move, a claim consistent with British History Online's survey of Fleet Street's older buildings. Samuel Pepys mentioned it in his diary, and Dickens and Tennyson both drank here. The narrow staircase up to the first-floor dining room is worth the climb for the carved fireplace alone.

Address: 22 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1AA
Nearest station: Temple, three minutes walk; closed at weekends like several of Fleet Street's legal-trade pubs.

6. The George Inn: Timber Galleries, Summer Pints

Southwark

The George is the last galleried coaching inn left in London, and the only one now owned by the National Trust. The current structure dates from 1677, rebuilt after a fire on the site of a much older inn recorded as far back as the 16th century, a history the National Trust's own guide to the property sets out in more detail. Dickens drank here and mentioned it in Little Dorrit, and coaches once used the courtyard as their London terminus before the railways made them obsolete. Today the galleried yard is the reason to visit: stand on the upper walkway rather than the ground floor for the best view of the timber frame, and go on a weekday afternoon if you want it to yourself. Find The George and 50+ other pubs across the city on the London Pub Map, organised by neighbourhood with insider notes on what makes each one worth the walk.

Address: 75-77 Borough High Street, SE1 1NH
Nearest station: London Bridge, two minutes walk.

7. The Spaniards Inn: Heath-Side Garden Pints

Hampstead

Set at the edge of Hampstead Heath, the Spaniards Inn dates from 1585 and owes its survival partly to its odd position: the road narrows sharply outside, which discouraged widening or demolition for centuries. Highwayman Dick Turpin is said to have used it as a hideout, and Keats, Byron and Dickens all wrote about it or drank in it. Bram Stoker used the pub as a setting in Dracula. The garden, which backs onto the Heath, is the better seat in summer over the low-beamed interior, which is atmospheric but cramped once it fills up.

Address: Spaniards Road, NW3 7JJ
Nearest station: Hampstead, then a twenty-minute walk, or bus 210 direct to the door.

8. The Anchor Bankside: River Views Beside the Globe

Southwark

A tavern has stood on this riverside site since at least 1615, though the current building dates from 1720s rebuilding after fires took earlier versions. Samuel Pepys, watching the Great Fire of 1666 from a safe vantage point across the Thames, is widely believed to have been near this spot, and the pub leans into the connection with a framed extract from his diary by the door. Shakespeare's Globe stood a few hundred yards away in his lifetime, and the pub likely served the theatre crowds of the day. The riverside terrace, looking straight across to the City, is the better seat over the low-ceilinged interior warren of small rooms; seating is weather-dependent and first come, first served.

Address: 34 Park Street, SE1 9EF
Nearest station: London Bridge, five minutes walk.

9. The Old Bell Tavern: A Quiet Corner Behind St Bride's

Fleet Street

Christopher Wren had this pub built in the 1670s specifically to house the masons and craftsmen working on his rebuild of St Bride's Church next door after the Great Fire, making it one of the few London pubs whose founding purpose is on official record rather than legend, and one of the more overlooked oldest pubs in London despite sitting on the same street as three more famous names. The narrow, sloping site and the low doorway are original to that build. It sits directly opposite St Bride's, whose crypt museum documents the same rebuilding work the pub itself was built to support. The small back room, quieter than the street-facing bar, is the better spot for a slow pint.

Address: 95 Fleet Street, EC4Y 1DH
Nearest station: Blackfriars, three minutes walk.

10. The Lamb and Flag: Best-Kept Secret

Covent Garden

A pub has stood on this site since at least the early 18th century, with records confirming continuous licensing from 1772, though the building itself is older still. Its Victorian nickname, the Bucket of Blood, comes from the bare-knuckle boxing once staged upstairs, not from any single grim event. The poet Dryden was famously beaten by hired thugs in the alley outside in 1679, in a dispute widely linked to a satirical poem. The tiny ground-floor bar gets packed by early evening, so the narrow staircase up to the first floor is the better bet after 6pm.

Address: 33 Rose Street, WC2E 9EB
Nearest station: Covent Garden, two minutes walk.

Insider Tips

The giveaway for a genuinely old pub is not the beams, which can be added to any building in an afternoon. Check the licence history and the site records instead: a pub with a documented address and trade going back centuries, even through several rebuilds, has a stronger claim than one with dark wood and dim lighting alone. Several claims about the oldest pubs in London that you will see elsewhere rest entirely on atmosphere rather than paperwork.

Visit on a weekday lunchtime wherever possible, particularly for the Fleet Street cluster of oldest pubs in London, which empties out at weekends when the City workers who keep it busy are gone, and you get the low beams and the quiet almost to yourself. If you are building a full day around the area, pair it with our list of the best things to see in Westminster to fill the rest of the afternoon.

Final London Insiders Tip

Five of these ten, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Ye Olde Mitre, Ye Olde Cock Tavern, The Old Bell Tavern and the Lamb and Flag, sit close enough together to walk between in an afternoon, tracing a rough line from Holborn through Fleet Street to Covent Garden. It is one of the best short pub crawls in the city if you take it slowly and stop properly at two or three rather than rushing all five, and it slots neatly onto the end of our self-guided Westminster walking route if you want to keep the afternoon going.

If you would rather have the whole route, including the ones further out at Wapping and Hampstead, mapped out with walking times and opening hours, the London Pub Map covers all of it for a one-off £3.95, no subscription and no login required.

And if it is your first time in this part of London, our Westminster Free Walking Tour is a genuinely free, tip-based way to get your bearings on the historic core before you strike out on your own pub research. It starts at St Martin-in-the-Fields and finishes at Buckingham Palace, so it pairs naturally with an afternoon spent working through this list.