In December 2019, I returned to London to study for another week at the London School of Economics and Political Science. This was my fifth course in the Executive LLM program and examined the Taxation of Wealth. While in London, I finally made it to the British Museum (the Rosetta Stone is pictured above) and dined at some interesting historic pubs including Cittie of Yorke, The Salisbury and The Bloomsbury Tavern.
The Cittie of Yorke is on London’s High Holborn, and although the current building is a rebuilding of the 1920s, the buildings on this site have been pubs since 1430. Some features include the Henekey’s long bar located in the grand and Victorian-style cubicles. The Welsh poet Dylan Thomas penned an impromptu ode to the pub when it was called Henneky’s Long Bar. The top of the poem reads “This little song was written in Henneky’s Long Bar High Holborn by Dylan Thomas in 1951.”
The Salisbury has been recognized as “an historic pub interior of national importance” due to the quality and opulence of the etched and polished glass and the carved woodwork. The “SS” motif that can be seen etched into the glass and in a few places is because the pub was originally called the “Salisbury Stores.” The 1961 British suspense film Victim includes scenes inside and outside The Salisbury.
The Bloomsbury Tavern is one of the most historic pubs in Holborn and was once the ominous final watering hole en route to the hangman’s noose at Marble Arch.
London is truly one of my favorite cities and a traveler could certainly never run out of things to do, to see or to eat.