Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, Holborn, London

Forget about the amazing history, this is the cheapest watering hole for miles around.

if I had to sum up this place in one word it would be BRILLIANT
the number of nights I’ve spent in this pub drinking decent beers & wine with my mates!
atmosphere is great
staff are fantastic
they even do great food! (only gripe is that their kitchen closes a tad too early)
great location close enough for me to stagger home
warm and welcoming pub

Great little boozer. Good prices

I am really not fond of this pub – it’s dark and dingy with quite low ceilings and narrow corridors. I know it’s an old building, but for me I still feel it lacks character.

I’ve also always found it hard to find a place to sit. However I have only been with large groups and at night.

This is a Sam Smith’s pub so it’s very cheap, but then I don’t really like the taste of Sam Smith’s products.

Don’t get me wrong, I think if I wanted to get drunk for cheap this might be the place to go, or maybe in the day it is quieter, but for me whilst I usually really like pubs with history, this just feels a bit gimmicky.

I have not tried the food so cannot comment on this.

I love the Cheshire Cheese. It is always a place I take my dates. I was recommended it by someone who works nearby.

I don't drink as I don't want a beer gut but I only go there for the cosiness of the cellars, enjoy the history and to play a quiet game of cards.

It has a nice atmosphere although tourists are flocking to it now, and gets too crowded in other bars. I wish it wasn't on the tourist trail.

Great pub, a very traditional feel to it, but I can't help but feel a bit sad that it's a Sam Smiths. Nowt wrong with that, but if they served a series of guest ales and put a bit more effort into the food it'd be a 5-star job.

This is a lovely pub which I stumbled across with my girlfriend when we went on the London Film Locations Walk - a guided tour of the city's famous places seen on screen. Its so atmospheric in the pub, the beer is great and if you're new to London then Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is a must do place to visit.

One of the oldest pubs in London is a quirky, nooky little Sam Smiths joint selling cheap but strong lager and other own brand treats.

More rooms than you can shake a stick at and as most of it is underground you're best off meeting friends in the usual spot, or outside the front door if you want to make sure you find them.

The food isn't up to much. Cheap and fried for the main. You're better off without it to be honest, there are plenty of places nearby to fill up on first.

A slice of Dickensian London, a few hundred yards from a number of Dickens' landmarks ( such as The Old Curiosity Shop). The atmosphere here is laid on with a trowel, with very dim lights and fires burning all year round. Also very cheap beer. Good place to bring visiting relatives from overseas or those easily overawed by "history", or to have a couple of quiet pints with chums; not the place for a raucous night out.

I have a love-hate relationship with the Cheese. Yes, it is nice and ye oldey-worldey, and yes the beer is nice and cheap, but something about it makes me consider it a definite back-up pub. It lacks a certain je ne c'est pas for me.

Out on a Saturday evening's pub-skylarking with a friend we found ourselves in Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, and I have to say - I was very impressed!

Initially the heat from the fireplace seemed oppressive, but that was possibly in contrast from the frigid chill we'd come in from. As our eyes adjusted to the stygian darkness of the front bar we managed to find a couple of chairs and thought "Ah well, this is a tourist pub - we'll just grab one and then be on our way".

2 hours later we were still there, having shifted to pints of ale with port chasers & chatting to a few punters who'd rocked up - we met a couple of lawyers from Lancashire, and a couple of tourists who had romanced across 4 continents. Maybe it was the fact that the pub - erected in 1667 - claims to have played host to a couple of hundred years' worth of literati, such as Dickens, Twain, Voltaire, and Dr Johnson, and so visitors entered eager for it to present a memorable trip and experience, rather than just another nice old building to stand in, look at, and walk out of again.

As we sat, sipped & extemporised more than one new group of tourists ingressed - typically a shivering & slightly dejected looking gaggle led by an excited young man in front clutching a guidebook: and all of whom warmed up nicely, put away at least a swift half, before returning to the arctic Fleet-Streetian wastelands.

I can't comment on the quality of food, as we only supped of the hop & vine. The pristineness of the toilets was remarkable - we suspected a recent renovation, but in contrast to the ancient smoke-stained walls upstairs, the loos were almost hospital-like!

Having read other reviews here complaining about short pints & whatnot - the "standard" beers are dirt cheap (as Sam Smith's pubs always are), so getting 1/4 of an inch more head on your pint than you'd like isn't the end of the world... either let them know the tide's out, or quit whining.

Realistically, the joy in this pub's in sitting back soaking up the atmosphere & ambience and enjoying a snug fireside chat - so get to it! It's a treasure.

The only regret I've got is that the darkness in there was so impenetrable that I wasn't able to get a decent photo of the front room. And it had nothing to do with all the beer I'd drunk, honest.

This is a real quaint olde world style pub on fleet street. It was a damp saturday night in the heart of the city and it was still busy so its obviously quite a pull. The tourists ove it because its untouched and genuine.
Made up of lots of tiny crocked rooms over 4 or 5 floors its very cosy with warm roaring fires in a couple of the rooms.
the prices are very reasonable maybe the cheapest place to drik in central london. The low star rating is simply because the choice of drinks is so limited. However for a quirky visit its well worth it.

Great atmosphere, the pub (from 1667) has countless little underground rooms with ales and lagers. The food is average.

I think Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is my favourite pub ever.

The main reason to visit it is for the building - it's AMAZING. The winding passages, timber beams and letters from Dr. Samuel Johnson hanging on the wall ooze history and give the pub a lovely atmosphere. Being one of the oldest pubs in London, this is definitely the place to take out-of-towners and anyone interested in London history.

I love it and could quite easily spend many hours there. It's a shame that it shuts around 11pm though.

Great Sam Smiths pub. Not sure I'd want to be in there during peak times but it's a great old building and I found the beers cheap (Sam Smiths pubs stock all their own brand drinks and are usually cheaper than other pubs). The toilets are totally modern. Check out the writing in the old books on the way to the loos upstairs too. Can someone tell me what the double-decker tables are for? Empties? Candles? What?
Oh, we had nibbles in here. The mushroom soup was very warming on a snowy winter afternoon and the fried cheese tasty. Not sure about sit down meals here, we were only stopping in for a couple.

I really really want to give this place five stars. It’s a lovely pub while great little cubby holes and nooks and crannies (although does it have more nooks than it’s sister pub The Princess Louise? Probably not).

It’s a Sam Smiths pub so you’d expect the rounds to be cheap, right? Nope. Not if you order anything other than the draught beer. I was feeling hungover so ordered a cheery beer and a soda water. The bill was £5.10. EXCUSE ME? £5.10?! Apparently charging £1.20 for soda water is normal. Their tap water is free - so they’ve just charged me over a pound for bubbles. But they’d already poured it and I had to pay for it. Not impressed.

£4 for cherry beer means that it’s not a cheap drink - you only get a bottle. My cheap (hungover) night out was somewhat marred by this. But dammit the cherry beer is really yummy. But if you’re looking for a cheap night out, best stick to the draught beer. Had I done that, this place would have got five stars.

What can I say about this place that has not already been said?

As a tourist in London you have to pay it a visit for a real authentic piece of London (well post great fire at least).

Well for me it’s a great pub with lots of nocks and crannies, serving great beer and hot fresh food. The staff are friendly and the prices are very reasonable (especially as it’s located in the centre of the City)

If you go during the week for lunch ensure you arrive early to beat the queues!

Famous for being one of the oldest pubs in London, this Sam Smiths owned boozer has character oozing out of every brick and floorboard.

Cosy snugs, intimate booths, low-celinged cellar… cheap alpine lager. Can get a bit crwoeded, specially with the 'pub tourist’ crowd coming in to see just how marvelously quaint everything is, but find yourself a seat, breathe in the history, do a bit of people watching and you won’t want to leave.

Widely regarded as the oldest and best pub in London, a title of which it thoroughly deserves. Being a Samuel Smith’s pub it has a limited range of drinks, but one pint of the Alpine larger at a very cheap price, and you will not mind. The dark and dank interior is something not too dissimilar to a Harry Potter film, and really gives an excellent old world ambience to this pub. Truly my favourite pub in London.

A lovely olde pub full of history and great food too! Well worth a visit with friends. There are lots of rooms to choose from but a word of warning re the stairs and how dark it is although that’s no criticism, as it should be expected. The first room you see as you enter is on your right-hand side. This is more of a bar really and usually has a lovely fire going. A few other places can be drafty but just as charming. I have only visited during lunch so cannot comment on the evening but I know they have lots of tourists visit and private parties at Christmas. Check it out.