An establishment serving drinks has resided on these premises since 1430, though it has changed hands many times and has been reconfigured on several occasions. Novelist Charles Dickens, who happened to live close by, placed a couple of his stories here. The character David Copperfield is said to have stopped in, order a sample of the strong elixir while inquiring for a lost acquaintance. In the story of “Barnaby Rudge” the rioters were said to have hid in the cellars. During the 1920s, the joint underwent a substantial renovation emulating…
