Great London pubs don't get more historic than this. The very first mention of a pub on this site is in 1772, when it was known as The Coopers Arms (the name changed to The Lamb & Flag in 1833).

 

The building's brickwork is circa 1958 and conceals what may be an early 18th century frame of a house, replacing the original one built in 1638.

 

The pub acquired a reputation in the early nineteenth century for staging bare-knuckle prize fights earning it the nickname 'The Bucket of Blood,' and the alleyway beside the pub was the scene of an attack on the poet John Dryden in 1679 by thugs hired by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, with whom he had a long-standing conflict.