London Pubs Walking Tour

This fun and engaging walking tour — led by public historian  and tour guide Sheldon K Goodman —  will explore the enigmatic streets  and alleys of Holborn, Farringdon and Clerkenwell which play host to a  roster of legendary pubs such as The Cheshire Cheese, The Rising Sun and  The Fox and Anchor.

Inspired by Open City's new book Public House: A Cultural and Social History of the London Pub,  the tour will celebrate the incredible diversity, design and stories of  London’s public houses as we are at last able to enjoy them again.

For centuries, the London pub has been a place of social  fermentation where all manner of people have come to drink, think, share  stories and company. Surviving plagues, bombs, fires and floods, they  have borne witness to wakes, weddings and the writing of world-changing  manifestos.

London’s pubs have provided the social and architectural  infrastructure for civic life to thrive with a remarkably varied mix of  spaces for meeting, making up, breaking up and cultural conviviality.  From opulent former Gin Palaces and Taverns to Micropubs and  community-owned pubs, the story of London’s more than 3,500 pubs tells  the story of the city itself.

From the legendary Cittie of Yorke to the recently re-opened  and renamed Holy Tavern, this tour will explore the importance pubs  play in society and their role today amid changing social habits.

Highlights will include The Cheshire Cheese —  a famous  watering hole favoured by Agatha Christie and Charles Dickens —  The  George and Vulture which is allegedly haunted by a ghostly 'Woman in  Grey' and the Viaduct Tavern where the cellars themselves hold a unique  and contested story.

Tracing the development of the pub as an enduring  institution through societal upheavals and ending in spectacularly  beautiful pub,  the tour will connect changes in pubs with wider social  and political movements and recount the stories of historic breweries  and long-lost beers that were once poured from the pumps of years gone  by.

Providing a safe and fun way for enthusiastic urbanists to  explore the city, this tour will explore the architecture and history of  the London pub by focussing on some of the capital's most prominent  drinking establishments which a chance to explore the surrounding  streets and go inside the pubs themselves.