Forget members’ clubs. From perfect Guinness in Soho to Sunday roasts in Maida Vale, live music in Newington Green and fashion kids drinking in Tottenham, the city’s coolest rooms right now come with pints, carpets and last orders.
THE PHENOMENON
Soho: The Devonshire
The impossible booking, and still worth trying. Perfect Guinness downstairs, Scottish beef over the wood-ember grill upstairs, and one of London’s most coveted Sunday lunches. Fashion has firmly moved in too.
17 Denman Street, London W1D 7HW
@devonshiresoho
devonshiresoho.co.uk
THE ARTFUL ONE
Mayfair: The Audley Public House
Mayfair, but still a pub. A magnificent Victorian corner house restored by Laplace, with a riotous Phyllida Barlow ceiling above the bar, oysters and pies on the menu and one of London’s most carefully poured Guinnesses. Upstairs is Mount St. Restaurant; downstairs, thankfully, remains all about the pint.
41–43 Mount Street, London W1K 2RX
@audleypublichouse
theaudleypublichouse.com
THE WILD CART
Marylebone: The Jackalope
A hidden pub tucked down a Marylebone mews, on a site that has been serving pints since 1777. Then comes the surprise: downstairs, Liu Xiaomian serves bowls of fiery, numbing Chongqing noodles. Old London upstairs, Sichuan heat below.
43 Weymouth Mews, London W1G 7EQ
jackalopelondon.com
@the-jackalope
THE TIME CAPSULE
Bloomsbury: The Lamb
A beautifully preserved Victorian pub on Lamb’s Conduit Street, recently refreshed but still home to its extraordinary etched-glass “snob screens” — originally designed to let drinkers enjoy a discreet pint without being seen across the bar. Add cask ales, Sunday roasts and a literary past, and very little needs improving.
94 Lamb’s Conduit Street, London WC1N 3LZ
thelamblondon.com
@lamb.bloomsbury
The Kierfield Arms
THE MICHELIN
Camberwell: The Kerfield Arms
A proper neighbourhood pub with a Michelin star, one of only two in London. Chef Jay Styler keeps things deceptively simple: British produce, pared-back cooking, excellent pints and a Sunday lunch worth crossing town for. Proof that London’s new gastropub revolution doesn’t need white tablecloths.
16 Grove Lane, London SE5 8SY
@thekerfieldarms
Thekerfieldarms.co.uk
THE NEW CLASSIC
Maida Vale: The Hero
The West London pub, perfected. Beautiful without looking overly designed, with elevated British classics, a serious dining room and a crowd that regularly crosses over from food into fashion.
55 Shirland Road, London W9 2JD
@thehero_w9
theherow9.com
THE BLUEPRINT
Notting Hill: The Pelican
One of the addresses that helped make the London pub fashionable again. British produce, proper cooking, a very good-looking room and a W11 crowd that keeps the balance between neighbourhood local and fashion hangout.
45 All Saints Road, London W11 1HE
@thepelican_w11
thepelicanw11.com
THE SPECTACLE
Blackfriars : The Blackfriar
Possibly London’s strangest-looking pub, and certainly one of its most spectacular. An extraordinary Arts & Crafts fantasy of marble, mosaics, copper reliefs and mischievous monks, hidden inside a wedge-shaped Victorian building. Come for the architecture, stay for the pint.
174 Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4EG
THE EASTENDER
London Fields: The Prince Arthur
East London in pub form: busy pavement, pints, pisco sours and very Hackney pub food. Come on a warm evening and half the neighbourhood seems to be standing outside.
95 Forest Road, London E8 3BH
@theprincearthure8
Theprinceartuhure8.com
THE FASHION CROWD
Columbia Road: The Royal Oak
Sunday flowers, then this. A Columbia Road institution where the East London fashion crowd mixes with locals over pints, particularly good once the flower market begins to wind down.
73 Columbia Road, London E2 7RG
@royaloakcolumbiaroad
royaloakbethnalgreen.co.uk
THE SOUNDTRACK
Newington Green: The Alma
Less fashion theatre, more genuinely good night out. An unpretentious North London pub with live music, big tables and the sort of atmosphere that can turn one drink into several.
59 Newington Green Road, London N1 4QU
@thealma_n1
The Parakeet
DINNER & DANCING
Kentish Town: The Parakeet
A Victorian pub turned North London favourite, where serious cooking meets an equally serious soundtrack. Come for British food cooked over fire and Sunday roast; stay late for soul, disco, house and hip-hop. This is a pub that knows exactly when dinner should turn into a night out.
256 Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2AA
@theparakeet
theparakeetpub.com
THE REAL DEAL
Tottenham: Mannions Prince Arthur
The anti-gastropub. An old-school Irish boozer with Guinness, pool, karaoke and live music that has unexpectedly become a favourite of North London’s artists, designers and models. No makeover required.
158 Broad Lane, London N15 4QJ
@mannions_n15
THE COOL KIDS
Hackney: The Spurstowe Arms
An old-school Hackney boozer adopted by East London’s fashion crowd. Come for pints in the garden, stay for Dough Hands’ cult crispy pizzas, and the inevitable parade of Salomons, Arc’teryx and people who work somewhere vaguely creative.
68 Greenwood Road, London E8 1AB
spurstowearms.com @thespurstowearms
THE ODDITY
Charing Cross: The Ship & Shovell
One pub, two buildings. The Ship & Shovell sits on both sides of a tiny Charing Cross passage, its two halves facing each other across the alley and connected underground by a cellar. Possibly unique in Britain, and wonderfully, stubbornly odd.
1–3 Craven Passage, London WC2N 5PH
shipandshovell.co.uk
@shipandshovell