Suspended in a hidden courtyard and seemingly between centuries, this enchanter—no screens, no music—was once part of a great palace mentioned by Shakespeare in Richard II and Richard III. The medieval St Etheldreda’s Chapel, the palace’s surviving place of worship, stands just outside. This extremely tiny pub (established in 1546 but built in its present form in 1772) has two entrances that feed either side of the bar. The one on the left grants you access to “the Closet,” a fine example of a semi-private sitting area called a “snug.” The entrance on the right brings you face-to-face with a case containing a blackened stump said to be part of a cherry-tree maypole that Elizabeth I danced around. (Yeah, right, drink another one.) Suck down one of the house specialties: pickled or Scotch eggs. To locate this hidden idyll, seek a little alley among the jewelry stores on eastern Hatton Garden between 8 and 9 Hatton Garden. Leaving will be even more difficult.