Westminster · Westminster
The Silver Cross
Licensed since 1674, and said to have once been a royal brothel.
- Address33 Whitehall, Westminster, London SW1A 2BX
- Phone020 7930 8350
- Websitegreeneking.co.uk/pubs/greater-london/silver-cross
- OwnershipPart of Greene King
About The Silver Cross
One of London's oldest licensed premises, positioned squarely between Trafalgar Square and Parliament, with a reputed royal-era past as a discreet gambling house.
The Silver Cross has held a licence since 1674, placing it among the oldest continuously licensed pubs in London, and local lore holds that it once operated under royal warrant as a gambling den and brothel serving the court at nearby Whitehall Palace — though, like much Whitehall pub folklore, the full truth is murkier than the story. What's certain is its position, squeezed between Trafalgar Square and the gates of Downing Street, has kept it a fixture for tourists, civil servants and the political press corps for three and a half centuries.
On tap
A standard, dependable range of cask ales, lagers and wines.
Food
Traditional pub fare, built for volume given its tourist-heavy location.
More pubs in Westminster
- St Stephen's TavernThe closest pub to Big Ben, with its own Division Bell.
- The Red Lion500 years of pub on the doorstep of Parliament.
- The Morpeth ArmsRiverside views straight across to MI6, and a ghost from the old prison.