The Lamb and Flag – Rose Street, Covent Garden, London, England

One of the oldest pubs in London, the Lamb & Flag was once known as the Bucket of Blood, thanks to the bare-knuckle fights held here. It was a favourite watering hole of Charles Dickens. As you step inside the narrow pub which habitually bursts at the seams with hoards of local workers and shoppers – it’s easy to imagine a time when this place was filled with London’s rowdy residents jostling for space at the bar or packing out the ancient settles. A noticeable lack of chairs and tables downstairs results in drinkers thronging in front of the bar or squeezing into nooks and crannies much like they would have done when it was first opened. If you want a bit of space, fight your way through and wind your way up the creaking staircase to a larger roomier upstairs bar named the Dryden Bar, after the poet, John Dryden, who was allegedly "nearly done to death" in the alleyway next to the pub.

The incident happened late at night on 18 December, 1679 when Dryden was returning from Will’s Coffee House in Bow Street to his lodgings in long Acre. As today, Rose Street was a dark and secluded place. It is thought that the assault by three men was paid for by the earl of Rochester, who believed that Dryden had satirized him in a recent publication. However, a painted plaque in the narrow passageway next to the Lamb and Flag suggests that the instigator of the attack was the duchess of Portsmouth. Be that as it may, the culprits were never caught, despite the offer of a £50 reward (a considerable sum in those days).