The Barley Mow in Dorset Street was built in c.1791 and is now the oldest surviving pub in Marylebone.  The interior retains its original matchboard panelling and, most notably, a pair of late 19th century panelled drinking boxes.  Private booths were once commonplace but are now an exceptionally rare survival.  They were compared at the time to the similar arrangement in pawnbrokers' shops, which was perhaps their inspiration.

In the first part of its history the Barley Mow was the centre of the local community, providing the venue for public meetings and inquests, illegal gambling and sweepstakes.  Its clientele has ranged over the years from guardsmen at the Life Guards stables in the 18th century, to a hardcore of swigging admakers from the nearby agencies in the 20th.  No doubt the pub was the cause of much annoyance in the 19th century to Charles Babbage, the 'father of computing' who lived and worked a few doors away and loathed street music and noise.