Strike and Robin drive to Chalfont St Giles to interview Niamh Doherty.  Beforehand, Strike Googles “pleasant places to have lunch in Chalfont St Giles” (Chapter 21).

“Merlin’s Cave, which stood on the village green, was a country pub with a timbered and red brick facade” (Chapter 22). 

“Strike and Robin were shown to a table for two in a pleasant restaurant area…”

“…with glass windows overlooking a rear garden” (Chapter 22).

Strike orders chicken and a zero-alcohol beer, and eats bread from a bread basket whilst he waits for his food to arrive.  Robin drinks water and eats something with chips, which she offers to share with Strike when he looks at them enviously.  He declines, as he is still dieting.

The pub restaurant in which Strike hopes to spend some quality time with Robin has probably been an inn since the 17th century, but has only been known as Merlin’s Cave since the beginning of the 20th century, most likely named for a cave located in what was once an orchard and is now the pub’s garden. During the 1980s a well renowned jazz club was started here.

The pub name Merlin’s Cave was popular in mid 18th century London, a craze inspired by the name of a folly on Queen Charlotte’s estate, in an area now known as Kew Gardens.

You can find Merlin’s Cave on the map here: