Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese and Polly the Parrot
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street (entrance down the alley known as Wine Office Court) is possibly one of London’s best known “olde” pubs. Rebuilt in 1667 after the Great Fire, over the years it has had many famous “regulars”, including Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan Doyle, Alfred Tennyson, Mark Twain and P. G. Wodehouse. It was also a favourite haunt of journalists back in the days when Fleet Street was still the hub of the British Press.
For around 40 years, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese was home to Polly, an African Grey parrot with a penchant for spouting obscenities and imitating popping corks. He/she (no one seems entirely sure) was incredibly popular with the regulars, and even received visits from such famous people as Charlie Chaplin. When Polly died in 1926, around 200 newspapers marked the parrot’s death with an obituary, and the sad news was read out on 2LO (the BBC’s London radio station at the time). Despite being an ex-parrot, Polly can still be found at the pub today, stuffed and kept inside a glass case above the bar.
