One of the most endearing configurations for any pub you’ll ever see, it’s cleft in two by an alley trod by commuters on their way to Charing Cross. On the north, there’s a traditional Victorian-style space, and on the south, a cozier room with a languidly sloping floor and private snugs. A cellar corridor links the halves. The bewigged, tubby chap on the swinging sign is Admiral Cloudesley Shovell who, in 1707, wrecked his ship and drowned 800 sailors, which certainly gives the interior’s nautical theme an ignoble context for drowning your own sorrows. It’s special for another reason, too, being one of the few pubs in town to pour Badger Beers from Hall & Woodhouse, a Dorset brewer dating to 1777.