Lamb and Flag, Covent Garden

51°30′41.76″N 0°7′32.16″W / 51.5116000°N 0.1256000°W / 51.5116000; -0.1256000Founded1772Official nameTHE LAMB AND FLAG PUBLIC HOUSEDesignated15-Jan-1973Reference no.1265122

The Lamb and Flag is a Grade II listed public house at Rose Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2.^[1]

The building is erroneously said to date back to Tudor times, and to have been a licensed premises since 1623, but in fact dates from the early 18th century,^[2] or according to its official listing, perhaps from 1688.^[1] The building became a pub in 1772.^[2]

Situated in what was a violent area of Covent Garden, the pub's upstairs room once hosted bare-knuckle prize fights,^[3] leading to it being nicknamed "The Bucket of Blood".^[4] A plaque on the building commemorates an attack on John Dryden in a nearby alley in 1679, when Charles II sent men to assault Dryden in objection to a satirical verse against Louise de Kérouaille, Charles II's mistress.^[5] Writer Charles Dickens frequented the pub in the 19th century.

Many of the internal fittings are Victorian woodwork or earlier, including a remaining partition, meriting the pub a maximum three-star rating as a Real Heritage Pub.^[6]

The pub was refaced with brick in 1958.^[7] It has been operated by Fuller, Smith & Turner since 2011.^[8]

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