London's last surviving galleried coaching inn. The George Inn on Borough High Street has been here since at least 1542, though the current building dates from 1677 — the Southwark fire of 1676 destroyed the previous one. What you're looking at is one wing of what was originally a three-sided courtyard; the Great Northern Railway pulled down the north and east wings in 1889 to build warehouses. The National Trust has owned it since 1937. In the coaching era, horse-drawn coaches left from this yard for Kent, Sussex, and the Channel ports. Dickens referenced it in Little Dorrit. Stand in the cobbled courtyard with a pint and look up at the galleries — that geometry hasn't changed in 350 years.
London's last surviving galleried coaching inn, owned by the National Trust since 1937. The earliest record dates to 1542. The current building went up in 1677 after the Southwark fire of 1676 destroyed the earlier George — the same fire that took the Tabard Inn next door, where Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrims gathered. Shakespeare's Globe was a ten-minute walk away, and he almost certainly drank on this site. Dickens knew the George well and referenced it in Little Dorrit — his father had been locked up in the Marshalsea debtors' prison around the corner, which probably made the pub more useful than most. The Great Northern Railway demolished the north and east wings in 1889 for warehouses, so what survives is the south range only. Greene King runs it now. The galleried courtyard is the thing — get a drink and sit outside if the weather allows.