The Hand and Shears pub at the junction of Middle Street and Cloth Fair is an historic pub linked with Bartholomew Fair and the history of Smithfield

Fair openings, kangaroo courts, royal visitors, inquests – you couldn’t make up the history of this London pub.

There has been a licensed premises at this site near Smithfields since the middle of the sixteenth century, although the current building dates to 1849. I visited it as it’s in the Good Beer …