CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

GREATER LONDON (CENTRAL) - London EC1, Hatton Garden, Olde Mitre

National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors Part One

1 Ely Court, Ely Place, London, EC1N 6SJ

(From Chancery Lane - go to Hatton Garden and look for the alleyway between 8 and 9; From Faringdon - walk into Ely Place and look for the alleyway near the first lampost on left hand side)

Tel: 020 7405 4751

Email: yeoldemitre@fullers.co.uk

Web site: www.pub-explorer.com/gtlondon/pub/yeoldemitrelondonec1n.htm

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday only, Closed Bank Holidays, 11 to 11

Draught Beer & Cider: Fullers London Pride, Discovery, Gales Seafarers Ale, Caledonian Deuchars IPA, Adnams Broadside at least two changing guest ales

Public Transport: Railway Station: Farringdon; Underground: Chancery Lane

Pub Food: From 11am to 9.30pm -toasted sandwiches, pork pies, scotch eggs, sausage rolls, sausages, pickled eggs and gherkins (Scotty calls this "English Tapas at their best")

Accomodation: None

CAMRA Awards: East London and City CAMRA Pub of the Year 2006, 2008, 2010; Runner Up CAMRA London Regional Pub of the Year

Listed Status: Grade II

View this pub on a local map

Finding this vibrant, historic pub in a tiny alley between Hatton Garden and Ely Place is a test of pub-going initiative, but success will be rewarded by several regular ales plus a guest. It is said to have been founded in 1546 to minister to the servants of the Bishop of Ely who had his London residence in the vicinity. The site and adjacent properties in Ely Place were cleared when the Crown took over the area in 1772. It was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century. The building has three storeys with glazed timber front on the ground floor. The interior is a remodelling of around 1930 with lots of panelling in the then-fashionable Tudor style.

There are two rooms (both called ‘lounge bar’) either side of a central servery, a small, cosy one at the front and a larger one at the back. Off the latter is an intimate little snug, now named ‘Ye Closet’. The corner of the front bar near the entrance is glazed in to reveal the trunk of what is said to be a cherry tree which marked the boundary of the properties held by the Bishop of Ely and Elizabeth I's courtier, Sir Christopher Hatton. The walls of the staircase are covered by wide, horizontally-laid panels which may date back to the original late C18 construction. The upstairs ‘Bishop’s Room’ was fitted out about 1990. The gents’ can only be entered from outside – how rare is that in a London pub? Closed Saturday & Sunday.