The Old Swan Inn was one of the most well-known in the City of London.
It was also known as ‘Old Swan Tavern’, the earliest mention being in the 1360s.
The Old Swan stood next to Old Swan Stairs which were situated at the southern end of Old Swan Lane. Around 1632 it was described as "The Swan in Thames Street that doe sell Rhenish Wine".
The inn was destroyed on Sunday 2 September 1666 in the Great Fire and later rebuilt.
From 1716 the Old Swan was the starting point on the Thames for the Doggett’s Coat and Badge Race, the oldest sculling race in the world. Men who were just out of their apprenticeship as watermen competed to row from opposite the site of the Old Swan Inn to Chelsea (also now demolished) - a distance of four and a half miles. The race was founded by Thomas Doggett in 1715 and was always held on 1 August. Single oarsmen would row against the tide. When the Chelsea Swan moved in 1780 downstream of the Physic Garden, so too did the finish of the race.