Samuel Pepys sat at this pub and watched London burn in 1666. William Shakespeare drank here (it’s alongside the original site of the Globe theatre) and Christopher Wren would have a pint after rowing across the Thames after another hard day on the site of St Paul’s Cathedral (which he built).

It is steeped in history. The beer and food is not much to write home about, but it is a must for visitors to London. It has a dockside terrace on which you can swig beer and watch the traffic on the Thames pass by.