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The Old Bank of England

Sir Arthur Blomfield's Italianate banking hall, drunk in rather than banked in.

Historic interiorNotable building

Blomfield built this in 1886 as the Bank of England's branch for the Law Courts across the road, and it went on being a bank until 1975. It is a corner building in the Italianate manner and it does not undersell itself: a basement of rough-hewn grey granite, Portland stone above, engaged Doric columns along the ground floor and Ionic through the two storeys over them, red granite shafts to the windows, and corner pavilions under a bracketed cornice.

What that gets you as a pub is a room of a height no pub would ever be built with: the banking hall kept its scale, its ceiling and its chandeliers, and the bar stands in the middle of it. It has been McMullen's since 2013.

Where
194 Fleet Street, EC4A 2LT
Nearest station
Temple · 5 min walk

Hours

Monday11:00 – 22:30
Tuesday11:00 – 22:30
Wednesday11:00 – 22:30
Thursday11:00 – 23:00
Friday11:00 – 23:00
Saturday11:00 – 23:00
Sunday11:00 – 21:00

Hours from the page that lists them, checked 22 September 2026.

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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