There are several famous literary figures associated with the place:
Oliver Goldsmith,
Mark Twain,
Alfred Tennyson, Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle,
G.K. Chesterton as well as Dr.
Samuel Johnson are all said to have been 'regulars'. However, there is no recorded evidence that Dr Johnson ever visited the pub, only that he lived close by, at
17 Gough Square. At The Johnson Club supper, December 13, 1892, 'an eloquent gentleman, present, an Irish Ex MP, pointed out that when Dr Johnson acted on his famous suggestion "let us take a walk down Fleet Street" the Cheshire Cheese must of necessity have been included among his places of call.'
Charles Dickens had been known to use the establishment frequently, and due to the pub's gloomy charm it is easy to imagine that Dickens modelled some of his darker characters there. The Cheshire Cheese Pub is famously alluded to in Dickens's
A Tale of Two Cities: following
Charles Darnay’s acquittal on charges of high treason,
Sydney Carton invites him to dine, "drawing his arm through his own" Sydney leads him to Fleet Street "up a covered way, into a tavern … where Charles Darnay was soon recruiting his strength with a good plain dinner and good wine".
But I can travel a certain distance - Norwich, Oxford, Cambridge, Bedford, Milton Keynes...all fine. As long as it's not too far Oop North as I've got a gammy leg that tends to play up after too long on t'train. And everyone knows it's grim up there 
