Great Regulars: The Mermaid Tavern existed in the era

of that great matriarch, Queen Elizabeth I, and was located east of the old St Paul's Cathedral on Friday Street. What made it so mythical was that here the Friday Street Club would meet, a group founded by sonneteer and seafarer Sir Walter Raleigh (who may have glimpsed a few sirens in his travels) and which attracted such literary giants as Ben Jonson, John Donne and even William Shakespeare himself. Legend has it that Jonson and Shakespeare would often be seen pitting their wits over a pint.

from Christopher Nield: The Epoch Times: The Antidote--Classic Poetry for Modern Life: A Reading of "The Mermaid Tavern" by John Keats

~~~~~~~~~~~