Wig and Pen

On the evening of 4 December, CAMRA’s London Pubs Group had a tour of pubs in the Temple and Fleet Street area. The evening commenced in the Cheshire Cheese (Essex Street). This former Courage pub is Grade II-listed and rates three stars on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors (hereafter NI). The pub was built in neo-Georgian style in 1928 by T H Nowell Parr for the Style & Winch Brewery (which was acquired by Barclay Perkins the following year). Its layout over three floors is little altered. The ground floor, the main bar, was originally two small rooms: a public bar on the right and saloon bar on the left. This room has fielded panelling to three-quarter height (some to full height) and a panelled bar counter.

There are two bar-backs, each made of carved oak, inset with leaded mirrors. On the right, near the bar counter, is a panelled cover which gives access to a cask lift. As the cellar is two floors below ground, casks of beer are not ‘dropped’ in the traditional way but need to be lowered mechanically. Stairs lead from the ground floor to the lower ground floor. Originally the lounge bar, this retains its original counter although this has been shortened on the left by three to four feet. The bar-back is of a similar design to that in the main bar. The small dining room on the first floor retains its original timber fireplace surround and all the walls are fronted with fielded panelling. Shepherd Neame Master Brew, Spitfire, Whitstable Bay Pale Ale and a Shepherd Neame seasonal ale are normally served here.

From here, it is a short walk to the Strand then, via Bell Yard, to the Seven Stars. This pub sits behind the Law Courts and is also Grade II listed with three stars on the NI. It is also ex-Courage.

The frontage bears the date 1602, although the building probably dates from the 1680s. It was extended into an adjoining building in 1878. The core of the pub is the part with doors embellished with etched and gilded glass, declaring ‘private counter’ (on the left) and ‘general counter’ (right). The counter and bar-back are Victorian and the coloured advertising panels of the latter are typical of the period 1870-1890. The pub has subsequently expanded into a right-hand area and recently has experienced further growth on the left to form a cosy drinking area called the Wig Box. The pub is in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide 2025. Adnams Broadside and Ghost Ship and Greene King IPA are normally served here. Look out for the pub cat.

The doors

At the east end of Carey Street at the junction with Chancery Lane is the Last Judgment. Again Grade II-listed, it was recognised by CAMRA as an Outstanding Conversion and Restoration by its former operators, JD Wetherspoon, when it was called the Knights Templar. JDW however surrendered the lease in 2023 and it is now run by Berkeley Inns who changed the name. The number of handpumps has been reduced to six. The overall internal décor and arrangements are however little altered from its days as a ‘Spoons. The building dates from 1865 and was designed by F W Porter for the Union Bank of London. It featured in the 2006 film The Da Vinci Code. Adnams Ghost Ship, Allsopps Pale Ale, Fuller’s London Pride, and Timothy Taylor Landlord are normally served here.We next proceeded south along Chancery Lane to Fleet Street and to the Olde Cheshire Cheese, another Grade II-listed building with three stars on the NI. Rebuilt in 1667, this is a celebrated old establishment in the annals of London pub history. After many years of private ownership, it was acquired by Yorkshire brewer Samuel Smith in the early 1990s and serves their one and only real ale, Samuel Smith Old Brewery Bitter. Until 1992, the pub consisted of four rooms on three floors and the cellars, where there was a small bar.

The building was extended to the east to create a new bar on the ground floor and, above this, the original rooms on the second and third rooms were made into two part rooms (i.e. doubling their original size).


A new bar was created out of the offices on the front side of the first floor and a room on the third floor has been brought into use making at least nine drinking areas altogether.

The evening concluded further along the road in the Punch Tavern. This pub is Grade II-listed and rates two stars on the NI. It is part of a block built in 1894-7. While under Ind Coope management it incorporated what is now the pub around the corner in Bride Lane, the Crown & Sugar Loaf.

The entrance corridor to the former has extensive tiling, a mosaic floor, mirrors and, either side of the inner doors, large canvas paintings of a very sinister looking Mr and Mrs Punch, signed by W B. Simpson. Inside, there has been a good deal of rearrangement and refitting and it is impossible to work out exactly how things might have been. The fixed seating on the left-hand side seems original and the lovely etched main panels in the bar-back also no doubt date from 1894. The rear room was a bookshop until the 1990s and was brought into use after the Punch was separated from what is again the Crown & Sugar Loaf for legal/ownership reasons. The Punch also featured in a movie, in this case Defence of the Realm (1985) and it was where the thirsty hacks of the fictitious Daily Dispatch would take refuge. The cask ales usually available here are Fuller’s London Pride, St Austell Tribute and Timothy Taylor Landlord.

Full details of these pubs can be found by clicking the links above.
Kim Rennie and Jane Jephcote