Shakespeare's pub: a barstool history of London as seen through the windows of its oldest pub - the George Inn

Prologue : Concerning scandal, murder, smuggling, highwaymen, coffee, & C.

In which we make the perilous and eventful journey to the George Inn, Southwark. From my house

Concerning dates, names, Mutya, Heidi & C.

Being some remarks on London's first bridge, and how this bridge gives our story its very shape

On inns, taverns, alehouses, pubs and boozers. But mainly inns, and the distinctive nature thereof

The poet's tale, or, how English literature was born in a Southwark inn

In which we meet the inhabitants of sinful Southwark, and the patrons of its divers inns, taverns and alehouses

Concerning bulls, bears, actors and other beasts, and their various 'entertainments', including the sad tale of a monkey on a horse

Further unsavoury activities in inns and alehouses, and how these places were burn'd by almighty God's fury (if you believe in that sort of thing)

Our inn enjoys a golden age of romance, highwaymen, complicated timetables and sore posteriors

Concerning drink, hops and politics, and how the George Inn brings these elements together

In which the road of steel replaces the roads of the Romans, and the inns of the Borough suffer a terrible fate

Concerning a mother and daughter, two brothers, and the condition of nostalgia

In which the George Inn is sav'd for the nation, and a princess and a bishop have a lock-in

Epilogue : a drink at the George Inn to-day

Timeline and dramatis personae.