Let us lead on a journey of enchantment through the alleyways of bygone London to discover the ambience at four of the city’s most historic taverns. You will set off into a labyrinth of secret byways that snake their way through the heart of the old, old city. You discover how the London pub scene evolved and pause to enjoy a tipple, or two, at a host of tucked away taverns that preserve the flavour of the eras in which they were built.

Down an atmospheric old alleyway you will find the old city chop house that Charles Dickens immortalised. Nearby is the picturesque hostelry standing on the site where London’s first coffee house stood. Onwards and forwards to a pub that was built by Sir Christopher Wren to accommodate the workmen who were rebuilding St Paul’s Cathedral nearby. The there’s the rambling tavern that stands at the exact centre of the City of London. It was once the home to successive Lord mayors of London and stands on the site of the home of Sir John Oldcastle, the model for Shakespeare’s Falstaff.

Dickens, Sir Francis Dashwood and his “Hell-Fire Club” cronies, Benjamin Disraeli, Edmund Lloyd and Thomas Hood are just a handful of the famous former Londoners with whom you will become acquainted tonight. And once you add a selection of truly historic taverns, the stage is set for an enjoyable stroll through a London that stands frozen in time.