Ye Olde Mitre is a pub in the Holborn district of London, hidden at the end of an alley that extends from a gated laneway near the Chancery Lane tube stop. It’s closed on weekends.
One of the oldest in London, this pub dates to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. “Built in 1546 and extended in 1782” says the website. Rather than a single room, the pub is more like a warren of small cozy rooms, with two levels and a courtyard.
The other customers mostly seemed to be suited regulars on their lunch breaks.
We enjoyed a couple excellent pints of Seafarers Ale, which is actually a bitter. It was a very sensible and easy-drinking beer at 3.6 ABV. We also tried a few things from the bar snacks menu: a ham and cheese sandwich, a sausage roll, and a big gherkin pickle. Nothing fancy, all delicious.
Our short visit to Ye Old Mitre was enough to have me rank it as one of the best pubs I’ve ever been to. When I initially read online about its age and history, I had feared a tourist trap. Reality could not have been further from that. Instead, we found a quiet little place carrying on much as it probably has for hundreds of years.
Heading back along Holborn towards the Tube stop we came across The Staple Inn, one of the only surviving stretches of Tudor buildings in London. The buildings date to 1585, survived the Great Fire of 1666, were damaged by a Nazi bomb in 1944, and then restored. The structures now house some street-front retail and a “great hall” where actuaries hold meetings.
Addendum: A year or so after our trip, I completed this acrylic and ink painting of the Ye Olde Mitre bartender in action.
