The Lamb and Flag

The Lamb and Flag is a Grade II listed public house at Rose Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2. 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, or according to its official listing, perhaps from 1688. The building became a pub in 1772. Situated in what was a violent area of Covent Garden, the pub's upstairs room once hosted bare-knuckle prize fights, leading to it being nicknamed "The Bucket of Blood". 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. 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. The pub was refaced with brick in 1958. It has been operated by Fuller, Smith & Turner since 2011.