I want to go to there: Historic London Pubs

I saw the new James Bond movie, Skyfall, over the weekend. Amazing. For an anglophile like me, all those shots of sweeping UK landscapes, historic parliament buildings, and refined accents sent me into a web-induced brit-binge. I looked up stuff on London for like 2 hours. After learning about the real WWII Churchill Bunkers, I brushed up on the parliamentary system and took a google maps tour of Downing Street. Then I fell into a great article about historic london pubs called 'Drink like Dickens' here. Yes, the web is a slippery slope.

These four pubs have been added to my travel lists. Aren't they darling? And their history is just fascinating!

Olde Cheshire Cheese: Rebuilt after the great fire in 1666, Charles Dickens would often hang out here and supposedly based some of his darker characters on pub regulars.

The Mayflower: Originally called the Shippe in 1620, a group of pilgrims met for send off drinks before boarding the Mayflower docked down the street en route to 'America'.

The George Inn: An old coach house located down the street from a small theater called....the Globe and was a popular hangout among actors. So Shakespeare probably had a few drinks here. The current George Inn was rebuilt on the same location in the same style.

The Dove: Supposedly Charles II would cheat on the queen with a mistress here. But in addition to adultery, this place looks like a good place to sit back, have a pint, and take the patio over-looking the Thames river.