Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

Oak and smoke hold secrets like embers under ash.

Step under a low lintel and into a labyrinth of oak-panelled rooms warmed by roaring fires. This 17th-century tavern feels like a warren of stories – descend into its cellars and you'll find vaulted chambers where Samuel Johnson once drank. There is comfort in its dim corners and the sense that every joke, argument and secret has been absorbed into the smoke-darkened beams.