The Hoop and Grapes is the only remaining timber-framed building left in the City of London, as all the rest burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. This one escaped, but only just, and no more timber-framed buildings were erected. It also survived the Blitz, the German bombing of London in the Second World War, which destroyed a lot of east London, but nearly succumbed to old age in the 1980s. It started to look like it was about to fall down, maybe because it was, as it began to do an impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but then serious structural work was done. It’s still a bit wonky from the outside, this is not just an illusion caused by excessive alcohol, but I have been assured that all is okay now.